The outpatient counterpart for hospital inpatient readmissions is revisits. Even though two-thirds of surgeries are done on an outpatient revisit, less quality of care data has been available for unplanned revisits following outpatient surgery than for unplanned readmissions after an inpatient operation. Here are some initial benchmarks from one research team that looked at ambulatory surgeries performed in hospital-owned settings that had low surgical risk:
- All-cause revisits within 30 days of ambulatory surgery: 95 per 1000 operations
- Most revisits were to emergency departments: 59 per 1000 operations
- Revisits to inpatient surgery setting: 27 per 1000 operations
- Two-thirds of the revisits [65 per 1000 operations] were for complications related to the procedure, while the remaining revisits were attributed to unrelated conditions.
The authors indicate more research is needed to determine which of the ambulatory surgery complication revisits may be preventable.
Sources:
Steiner CA and others. Return to acute care following ambulatory surgery. JAMA 314(13):1397-1399, Oct. 6, 2015. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2449176
AHRQ study: ambulatory ‘revisits’ occur frequently, often due to complications. AHRQ Electronic Newsletter, no. 497, Dec. 8, 2015, p. 3. http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USAHRQ/bulletins/129ba69
Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050 rc@aha.org
Filed under: Ambulatory care facilities, Ambulatory surgery, Benchmarking, Emergency department, Health care quality, Patient safety, Posted by Diana Culbertson, Surgery |
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