title: In-Hospital Outcomes and Costs Among Patients Hospitalized During a Return Visit to the Emergency Department.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Unscheduled short-term return visits to the emergency department (ED) are increasingly monitored as a hospital performance measure and have been proposed as a measure of the quality of emergency care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine in-hospital clinical outcomes and resource use among patients who are hospitalized during an unscheduled return visit to the ED.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of adult ED visits to acute care hospitals in Florida and New York in 2013 using data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Patients with index ED visits were identified and followed up for return visits to the ED within 7, 14, and 30 days.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital admission occurring during an initial visit to the ED vs during a return visit to the ED.
  
  
  METHODS
  In-hospital mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, length of stay, and inpatient costs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 9,036,483 index ED visits to 424 hospitals in the study sample, 1,758,359 patients were admitted to the hospital during the index ED visit. Of these patients, 149,214 (8.5%) had a return visit to the ED within 7 days of the index ED visit, 228,370 (13.0%) within 14 days, and 349,335 (19.9%) within 30 days, and 76,151 (51.0%), 122,040 (53.4%), and 190,768 (54.6%), respectively, were readmitted to the hospital. Among the 7,278,124 patients who were discharged during the index ED visit, 598,404 (8.2%) had a return visit to the ED within 7 days, 839,386 (11.5%) within 14 days, and 1,205,865 (16.6%) within 30 days. Of these patients, 86,012 (14.4%) were admitted to the hospital within 7 days, 121,587 (14.5%) within 14 days, and 173,279 (14.4%) within 30 days. The 86,012 patients discharged from the ED and admitted to the hospital during a return ED visit within 7 days had significantly lower rates of in-hospital mortality (1.85%) compared with the 1,609,145 patients who were admitted during the index ED visit without a return ED visit (2.48%) (odds ratio, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.69-0.78]), lower rates of ICU admission (23.3% vs 29.0%, respectively; odds ratio, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.71-0.76]), lower mean costs ($10,169 vs $10,799; difference, $629 [95% CI, $479-$781]), and longer lengths of stay (5.16 days vs 4.97 days; IRR, 1.04 [95% CI, 1.03-1.05]). Similar outcomes were observed for patients returning to the ED within 14 and 30 days of the index ED visit. In contrast, patients who returned to the ED after hospital discharge and were readmitted had higher rates of in-hospital mortality and ICU admission, longer lengths of stay, and higher costs during the repeat hospital admission compared with those admitted to the hospital during the index ED visit without a return ED visit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with adult patients who were hospitalized during the index ED visit and did not have a return visit to the ED, patients who were initially discharged during an ED visit and admitted during a return visit to the ED had lower in-hospital mortality, ICU admission rates, and in-hospital costs and longer lengths of stay. These findings suggest that hospital admissions associated with return visits to the ED may not adequately capture deficits in the quality of care delivered during an ED visit.
authors.affiliation: Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle.
authors.forename: Amber K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sabbatini
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor3Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: Keith E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Kocher
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services and Economics, University of Washington, Seattle.
authors.forename: Anirban
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, San Francisco6Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Renee Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Hsia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009518:New York; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors