Connecticut hospitals are doing a better job reducing the number of preventable hospitalizations in their facilities, but the cost to treat patients who should be getting care outside the emergency room is on the rise, a new report says.
There were 44,373 “preventable hospitalizations” in the state in fiscal 2012, which accounted for 227,000 patient days and 11 percent of Connecticut’s total hospital patient discharges, according to a recently released report by the state Office of Health Care Access.
The good news is that preventable hospitalizations, which occur when patients visit an emergency department with health conditions like diabetes or asthma that typically should treated or managed outside the hospital, are down 7 percent from 2008 to 2012.
Preventable hospitalizations are important care quality metrics because they help identify possible gaps in the primary healthcare system. People who are uninsured or underinsured, or who don’t have easy access to a primary care doctor, often don’t get the treatment or medication they need to stay healthy. Lack of care access is especially problematic for people with chronic conditions like diabetes or asthma, because when left untreated, they become sicker and are forced to go to the hospital, which is a high-cost setting to get treatment.
In fiscal 2012, preventable hospitalizations cost Connecticut’s healthcare system $1.3 billion, which was a 15 percent increase from 2008. The Affordable Care Act has expanded insurance coverage to more Connecticut residents, which could help reduce preventable hospitalizations, but newly insured residents still need to find and then visit a primary care doctor.
In fiscal 2012, the state saw double-digit declines in preventable hospitalizations for asthma, dehydration, uncontrolled diabetes, and congestive heart failure patients. However, there was a significant (19 percent) spike in hypertension and short-term complication diabetes (25 percent) patients who sought hospital care, OHCA data shows.
