Characterization, Categorization, and 5-Year Mortality of Medicine High Utilizer Inpatients

Characteristics of Nonelderly Adult Health Care Persistent Super Utilizers in Utah

In the United States, the top 1% and top 5% of health care spenders account for 23% and 50% of total health care spending, respectively. These high spenders have been coined the term super utilizers (SU). The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics associated with these patients to aid in developing public health interventions aimed at transitioning patients out of the SU category and thus ultimately helping to control health care costs. The authors utilized the Utah All-Payer Claims Database and Utah Population Database from 2013 to 2015 to identify demographics, comorbid conditions, health care utilization, and cost characteristics of persistent super utilizers (PSU) (≥3 hospitalizations per year for 3 years) of health care compared with persistent nonsuper utilizers (PNSU) (<3 hospitalizations per year for 3 years). Multivariable logistic regression was utilized to identify the characteristics associated with PSU versus PNSU. Higher outpatient/Emergency Department/noninpatient (eg, visits with imaging and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services preventive visits) health care utilization and spending, and prevalence of comorbid disease and psychosocial conditions were associated with PSU. In multivariable analysis, factors such as heart disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes, alcohol abuse, and depression were statistically significantly associated with higher odds of PSU, with the most noteworthy being CKD (odds ratio [OR] 6.85, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 5.84-8.02; P < 0.001), alcohol abuse (OR 5.90, 95% CI 4.49-7.69; P < 0.001), and heart diseases (OR 4.41, 95% CI 3.74-5.18; P < 0.001). The annual health care cost of a PSU is about 11.5 times greater than a PNSU ($54,776 vs. $4801; P < 0.001).

Frequently Hospitalized Patients' Perceptions of Factors Contributing to High Hospital Use

BACKGROUND

A small proportion of patients accounts for a large proportion of hospitalizations.

OBJECTIVE

To obtain patients' perspectives of factors associated with the onset and continuation of high hospital use.

DESIGN

Qualitative research study where a research coordinator conducted one-on-one semi-structured interviews. A team of researchers performed inductive coding and analysis.

SETTING

A single urban academic hospital.

PARTICIPANTS

Patients with two unplanned 30-day readmissions within 12 months and one or more of the following: ≥1 readmission in the last six months, a referral from a clinician, or ≥3 observation visits.

RESULTS

Overall, 26 participants completed the interviews. Four main themes emerged. First, major medical problems were universal, but the onset of frequent hospital use varied. Second, participants perceived fluctuations in their course to be related to psychological, social, and economic factors. Social support was perceived as helpful and participants benefited when providing social support to others. Third, episodes of illness varied in onset and generally seemed uncontrollable and often unpredictable to the participants. Fourth, participants strongly desired to avoid hospitalization and typically sought care only after self-management failed.

CONCLUSIONS

Emergent themes pointed to factors which influence patients' onset of high hospital use, fluctuations in their illness over time, and triggers to seek care during an episode of illness. These findings enable patients' perspectives to be incorporated into the design of programs serving similar populations of frequently hospitalized patients.

Impact of Age-Adjusted Charlson Comorbidity on Hospital Survival and Short-Term Outcome of Patients with Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) has gradually come to be regarded as an effective therapy, but the hospital mortality rate after ECPR is still high and unpredictable. The present study tested whether age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (ACCI) can be used as an objective selection criterion to ensure the most efficient utilization of medical resources. Adult patients (age ≥ 18 years) receiving ECPR at our institution between 2006 and 2015 were included. Data regarding ECPR events and ACCI characteristics were collected immediately after the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) setup. Adverse events during hospitalization were also prospectively collected. The primary endpoint was survival to hospital discharge. The second endpoint was the short-term (2-year) follow-up outcome. A total of 461 patients included in the study were grouped into low ACCI (ACCI 0–3) (240, 52.1%) and high ACCI (ACCI 4–13) (221, 47.9%) groups. The median ACCI was 2 (interquartile range (IQR): 1–3) and 5 (IQR: 4–7) for the low and high ACCI groups, respectively. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-to-ECMO duration was comparable between the groups (42.1 ± 25.6 and 41.3 ± 20.7 min in the low and high ACCI groups, respectively; p = 0.754). Regarding the hospital survival rate, 256 patients (55.5%) died on ECMO support. A total of 205 patients (44.5%) were successfully weaned off ECMO, but only 138 patients (29.9%) survived to hospital discharge (32.1% and 27.6% in low and high ACCI group, p = 0.291). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed CPR duration before ECMO run (CPR-to-ECMO duration) and a CPR cause of septic shock to be significant risk factors for hospital survival after ECPR (p = 0.043 and 0.014, respectively), whereas age and ACCI were not (p = 0.334 and 0.164, respectively). The 2-year survival rate after hospital discharge for the 138 hospital survivors was 96% and 74% in the low and high ACCI groups, respectively (p = 0.002). High ACCI before ECPR does not predict a poor outcome of hospital survival. Therefore, ECPR should not be rejected solely due to high ACCI. However, high ACCI in hospital survivors is associated with a higher 2-year mortality rate than low ACCI, and patients with high ACCI should be closely followed up.