Financial and Clinical Impact of Transfer Patients at Major Teaching Hospitals

Inter-hospital cardiorespiratory telemonitoring of newborns and infants: a wellworking example of a hub and spoke network

BACKGROUND

Patients who experience cardiorespiratory events usually have to be moved to specialized centers to perform cardiorespiratory studies. To avoid the transfer of these patients to specialized centers, a network has been created based on an interchange system, where the recordings were uploaded in unspecialized centers (spokes) and downloaded by the Sleep Disorders Breathing (SDB) Center (hub) to be analyzed.

METHODS

The inter-hospital network was established in November 2008. Initially only 3 non-tertiary hospitals in the Tuscany Region joined the network. Currently, 12 Tuscany hospitals are included.

RESULTS

From November 2008 to December 2020, 625 recordings were collected belonging to 422 infants. No recurrent life-threatening episode or infant death occurred in the study population and none of the infants needed to be readmitted or be moved to a tertiary center, except infants who underwent home monitoring. The discharge diagnoses belong to the following categories: apnoea, respiratory problem of the newborn, syncope, gastroesophageal reflux, altered consciousness, transient loss of consciousness and cyanosis.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that the inter-hospital network is an efficient system that allows accurate and safe management of infants at risk for apnoea, bradycardia, and hypoxemia to remain in unspecialized centers, avoiding unnecessary transfers of patients and over - hospitalizations.

Canceled Air Ambulance Trauma Scene Calls: A Prospective Observational Study of Causes and Outcomes of Trauma Auto-launch Cancellations

OBJECTIVE

Direct transport, occasionally by helicopter, to a trauma hospital for severely injured patients is associated with decreased mortality. This study sought to determine causes for air ambulance trauma response cancellations and secondarily to identify patients who underwent secondary transfer to a trauma center after a canceled air ambulance dispatch.

METHODS

This prospective cohort study used administrative databases from August 2020 to August 2021 to collect data related to canceled trauma calls. Frequencies of cancellation reasons and transferred patients were summarized, and the estimated delay to trauma center arrival was calculated. Subsequent probabilistic matching was performed to identify patients who underwent secondary transfer.

RESULTS

Of 3,232 trauma calls, 1,924 were canceled for reasons including the trauma bypass criteria not being met, patient brought to trauma center, and patient refused transfer. Of the 1,117 patients for whom an air ambulance was canceled because they did not meet the trauma bypass criteria, 184 (16.5%) were later transferred to a lead trauma hospital, with a median delay of 4.12 hours (interquartile range = 2.57-7.35 hours).

CONCLUSIONS

Most scene call cancellations were due to patients not meeting the trauma bypass criteria; yet, 16.5% of these patients were later transported to a trauma center. Interventions are needed in education, adherence, and modification of the trauma bypass criteria.

Incidence and Outcomes of Laryngeal Complications Following Adult Cardiac Surgery: A National Analysis

Laryngeal complications (LCs) following cardiac operations contribute to increased morbidity and resource utilization. Using a nationally representative cohort of cardiac surgical patients, we characterized the incidence of LC as well as its associated clinical and financial outcomes. All adults undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting and/or valvular operations were identified using the 2010–2017 Nationwide Readmissions Database. International Classification of Diseases 9th and 10th Revision diagnosis codes were used to identify LC. Trends were analyzed using a rank-based, non-parametric test (nptrend). Multivariable linear and logistic regressions were used to evaluate risk factors for LC, and its impact on mortality, complications, resource use and 30-day non-elective readmissions. Of an estimated 2,319,628 patients, 1.7% were diagnosed with perioperative LC, with rising incidence from 1.5% in 2010 to 1.8% in 2017 (nptrend < 0.001). After adjustment, female sex [adjusted odds ratio 1.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04–1.12], advancing age, and multi-valve procedures (1.51, 95% CI 1.36–1.67, reference: isolated CABG) were associated with increased odds of LC. Despite no risk-adjusted effect on mortality, LC was associated with increased odds of pneumonia (2.88, 95% CI 2.72–3.04), tracheostomy (4.84, 95% CI 4.44–5.26), and readmission (1.32, 95% CI 1.26–1.39). In addition, LC was associated with a 7.7-day increment (95% CI 7.4–8.0) in hospitalization duration and $24,200 (95% CI 23,000–25,400) in attributable costs. The present study found LC to be associated with increased perioperative sequelae and resource utilization. The development and application of active screening protocols for post-surgical LC are warranted to increase early detection and reduce associated morbidity.

Indirect Standardization as a Case Mix Adjustment Method to Improve Comparison of Children's Hospitals' Antimicrobial Use

Antimicrobial use (AU) in days of therapy per 1000 patient-days (DOT/1000 pd) varies widely among children's hospitals. We evaluated indirect standardization to adjust AU for case mix, a source of variation inadequately addressed by current measurements. Hospitalizations from the Pediatric Health Information System were grouped into 85 clinical strata. Observed to expected (O:E) ratios were calculated by indirect standardization and compared with DOT/1000 pd. Outliers were defined by O:E z-scores. Antibacterial DOT/1000 pd ranged from 345 to 776 (2.2-fold variation; interquartile range [IQR] 552-679), whereas O:E ratios ranged from 0.8 to 1.14 (1.4-fold variation; IQR 0.93-1.05). O:E ratios were moderately correlated with DOT/1000 pd (correlation estimate 0.44; 95% confidence interval, 0.19-0.64; P = .0009). Using indirect standardization to adjust for case mix reduces apparent AU variation and may enhance stewardship efforts by providing adjusted comparisons to inform interventions.