| Cost status; % of patients† | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | All n = 100 178 | Persistently high cost n = 236 | Episodic high cost n = 5062 | Non–high cost n = 94 880 |
| Total no. of hospital encounters | 132 996 | 1528 | 11 730 | 119 738 |
| No. of hospital admissions, median (IQR) [range] | 1 (1–1) [1–41] | 5 (4–8) [2–41] | 2 (1–3) [1–17] | 1 (1–1) [1–18] |
| Total days in hospital, median (IQR) | 3 (2–8) | 128 (98–181) | 53 (34–79) | 3 (2–6) |
| No. of admissions to ICU | ||||
| 0 | 90.0 | 39.0 | 49.6 | 92.3 |
| 1 | 9.5 | 32.2 | 45.5 | 7.5 |
| ≥ 2 | 0.5 | 28.8 | 4.9 | 0.2 |
| Total days in ICU,‡ median (IQR) | 4 (1–10) | 16 (9–30) | 14 (8–25) | 2 (1–6) |
| % of total hospital days spent in ICU, median (IQR) | 0 (0–0) | 5.9 (0–17.3) | 1.7 (0–41.5) | 0 (0–0) |
| No. of admissions to alternate level of care | ||||
| 0 | 95.5 | 54.7 | 67.2 | 97.2 |
| 1 | 4.1 | 26.3 | 29.3 | 2.7 |
| ≥ 2 | 0.4 | 19.0 | 3.5 | 0.1 |
| Total days in alternate level of care,§ median (IQR) | 14 (6–32) | 32 (11–84) | 29 (11–61) | 9 (4–20) |
| % of total hospital days spent in alternate level of care setting, median (IQR) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–21.4) | 0 (0–19.3) | 0 (0–0) |
| No. of all-cause readmissions ≤ 30 d¶ | ||||
| 0 | 92.8 | 30.9 | 65.4 | 94.2 |
| 1 | 5.7 | 25.7 | 21.9 | 4.9 |
| ≥ 2 | 1.5 | 43.4 | 12.7 | 0.9 |
| In-hospital death | 5.0 | 25.0 | 22.7 | 4.0 |
| Discharge disposition (last admission) | ||||
| Home | 75.7 | 16.5 | 22.3 | 78.8 |
| Home with support services | 9.0 | 22.5 | 20.4 | 8.4 |
| In-hospital death | 5.0 | 25.0 | 22.7 | 4.0 |
| Signed out against medical advice | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Transferred to acute care | 3.0 | 5.9 | 9.5 | 2.6 |
| Transferred to long-term care | 6.6 | 26.7 | 24.0 | 5.6 |
| Transferred to other facility | 0.3 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 |
| Did not return from a pass | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0.01 |
| Total direct costs over study period, $ | 936 671 040 | 35 462 016 | 336 992 448 | 564 216 576 |
| % of total costs | 100.0 | 3.8 | 36.0 | 60.2 |
| Direct cost per patient, $, median (IQR) | 3598 (1485–8864) | 136 558 (98 514–174 328) | 52 544 (40 138–75 305) | 3291 (1361–7581) |
| Resource utilization, % of direct inpatient spending | ||||
| Endoscopy | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Food services | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| Health professional services | 5.0 | 7.2 | 7.6 | 3.3 |
| Imaging | 3.1 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| Laboratory | 7.4 | 5.8 | 5.6 | 8.6 |
| Nursing | 45.4 | 44.9 | 39.8 | 48.8 |
| Operating room | 8.2 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 11.6 |
| Surgical implants | 4.4 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 5.9 |
| Pharmacy | 7.1 | 10.5 | 8.8 | 5.8 |
| Post-anesthesia care unit | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| ICU | 14.4 | 20.1 | 26.3 | 7.0 |
Note: ICU = intensive care unit, IQR = interquartile range. *Persistently high cost = costs were in top 5% of cumulative direct costs in 2 or more of the study years; episodic high cost = costs were in top 5% in only 1 of the study years; non–high cost = costs were in the bottom 95% in all study years (includes patients with no events in a fiscal year). †Unless stated otherwise. ‡Among patients with an ICU admission. §Among patients with a hospital admission that had an alternate level of care component. ¶Among patients eligible for hospital readmission (excludes patients who died in hospital before discharge).