Minnesota finds $2 billion in 'potentially preventable' hospital admissions in 2012
Events included hospital and ED patients visits that could have been avoided under circumstances including better medication management, more timely.
The Minnesota Department of Public Health, in its first analysis of 2012 hospital admissions and emergency department data statewide, found that nearly 1.3 million inpatient visits were "potentially preventable," costing about $2 billion.
Despite Minnesota having total inpatient per capita costs slightly below the national average, "this study shows we still have room for improvement," said the state's Commissioner of Health Ed Ehlinger, MD, in a July 23 statement announcing the report findings. "Equipped with these findings, we will work with providers and community leaders to ensure patients more consistently receive the right care, in the right place at the right time."
Potentially preventable events included hospital and ED patients visits that could have been avoided under circumstances including better medication management, more timely access to primary care, improved care coordination and greater health literacy. About 1.2 million emergency department visits, approximately two out of three visits, were deemed potentially preventable, costing $1.3 billion.
Researchers found that upper respiratory infections at 9 percent, abdominal pain at 7 percent and musculoskeletal/connective tissue conditions at 7 percent accounted for the most common diagnoses for preventable ED visits.
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Minnesota officials also said Medicaid beneficiaries accounted for 40 percent of ED visits.
As for hospital admissions in 2012, the state said 50,000 events could have been avoided, representing a cost of $373 million. The areas of improvement identified were specific cases of pneumonia, heart failure and COPD.
Officials acknowledged there's much work to be done on fixing these numbers but also said there are factors at play that impact these visits.
"This work requires approaches that look not just at coordinating medical care but at addressing social factors and preventing these events from happening in the first place," said Ross Owen, director of Hennepin Health, a health plan provider. "This MDH report is an important statewide step toward understanding that opportunity."
This story previously appeared on Healthcare IT News.
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