Short Attention Span Summary
Wouldn’t you like to give Iowa a try?
Almost 40% of pediatric transfers in Iowa were potentially avoidable (defined as, “either discharged from the receiving ED or admitted for ≤ 1 day, without having any separately billed procedures performed”). This resulted in over $900 additional cost for the family. Transfer for seizure was the top reason for potentially avoidable transfer.
Spoon Feed
I’ve been on the receiving and occasionally sending end of thousands of transfers. The best policy is to make sure the patient will benefit from the transfer and not just send them because it’s expedient. Sometimes a brief conversation with the pediatric subspecialist by phone is helpful and may avoid a costly transfer. Read Trauma Pro’s take on this.
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Abstract
Acad Emerg Med. 2016 Aug;23(8):885-94. doi: 10.1111/acem.12972.
Mohr NM1, Harland KK1, Shane DM2, Miller SL1, Torner JC2.
Author information:
1University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa.
2University of Iowa College of Public Health, Iowa City, Iowa.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
Interhospital transfer is a common strategy to provide high-quality regionalized care in rural emergency departments (EDs), but several reports have highlighted problems with selection of children for transfer. The purpose of this study is to characterize the burden of potentially avoidable transfer (PAT) and to estimate the medical and family-oriented costs associated with PAT.
METHODS:
This study was a cohort study of all children treated in Iowa EDs between 2004 and 2013. PAT was defined as a child who was transferred and then either discharged from the receiving ED or admitted for ≤ 1 day, without having any separately billed procedures performed. Costs of care were estimated from 1) medical costs, 2) ambulance transfer, and 3) family costs (travel and lodging).
RESULTS:
Over 10 years, 2,117,317 children were included (1% transferred to another hospital). Only 63% were transferred to a designated children’s hospital, and PATs were identified in 39% of all transfers. PAT was associated with $909 in additional cost. The conditions most strongly associated with PAT were seizure (additional cost $1,138), fracture ($814), isolated traumatic brain injury without extra-axial bleeding ($1,455), respiratory infection ($556), and wheezing ($804). Few of these charges are attributable to nonmedical family costs ($21).
CONCLUSIONS:
Potentially avoidable pediatric interhospital transfer is common and is responsible for significant healthcare-related costs. Future work should focus on improving selection of children who benefit from interhospital transfer for high-yield conditions, to reduce the costly and distressing burden that PAT places on rural patients and their families.
© 2016 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
PMID: 27018337 [PubMed – in process]
