The potential lost hospital income from miscoded emergency department boarders in Ireland.
BACKGROUND
Emergency department (ED) boarders, namely patients who have been admitted under an in-patient service but remain on a trolley in the ED, have long been a problem in the Irish healthcare system.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective analysis of all ED boarders in Cork University Hospital (CUH) for a 6-month period from January to July 2011. Data were obtained from the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry Office (HIPE). The income generated by the hospital for a subset of these patients (January and February attendances) was obtained from the Finance Office in the hospital, based on diagnoses as recorded on the HIPE system. A convenience sample of two-thirds of the 39 acute hospitals nationally was surveyed to ascertain whether ED boarders were coded by individual HIPE offices as hospital in-patients or as ED attendees.


RESULTS
A total of 806 patients were admitted to an in-patient service from January to July 2011 in CUH and subsequently discharged, having completed their entire stay in the ED. The income generated by a sub-sample of 228 patients (January and February ED boarders) was determined. The hospital was remunerated by <euro>685,111 for these patients, i.e. an average income of <euro>3,098 per patient. Only 8 hospitals of the 27 surveyed hospitals coded overnight ED Boarders as in-patients and were thus able to request income for these patients appropriately.


CONCLUSIONS
Discrepancies in coding of ED boarders may result in significant revenue losses for certain hospitals.
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland.
L
L
Healy
E
E
Moloney
M
M
O'Connor
C
C
Henry
S
S
Timmons
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D059019:Clinical Coding; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D004630:Emergencies / Q000145:classification* / Q000191:economics*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies