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Background Admission to high-acuity ICUs has been associated with improved outcomes compared with outcomes in low-acuity ICUs, although the mechanism for these findings is unclear. Research Question The goal of this study was to determine if high-acuity ICUs more effectively implement evidence-based processes of care that have been associated with improved clinical outcomes. Study Design and Methods This retrospective cohort study was performed in adult ICU patients admitted to 322 ICUs in 199 hospitals in the Philips ICU telemedicine database between 2010 and 2015. The primary exposure was ICU acuity, defined as the mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IVa score of all admitted patients in a calendar year, stratified into quartiles. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine relations of ICU acuity with adherence to evidence-based VTE and stress ulcer prophylaxis, and with the avoidance of potentially harmful events. These events included hypoglycemia, sustained hyperglycemia, and liberal transfusion practices (defined as RBC transfusions prescribed for nonbleeding patients with preceding hemoglobin levels ≥ 7 g/dL). Results Among 1,058,510 ICU admissions, adherence to VTE and stress ulcer prophylaxis was high across acuity levels. In adjusted analyses, those admitted to low-acuity ICUs compared with the highest acuity ICUs were more likely to experience hypoglycemic events (adjusted OR [aOR], 1.12; 95% CI, 1.04-1.19), sustained hyperglycemia (aOR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.04-1.10), and liberal transfusion practices (aOR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.33-1.82). Interpretation High-acuity ICUs were associated with better adherence to several evidence-based practices, which may be a marker of high-quality care. Future research should investigate how high-acuity ICUs approach ICU organization to identify targets for improving the quality of critical care across all ICU acuity levels.

Many ICU patients do not require critical care interventions. Whether aggressive care environments increase risks to low-acuity patients is unknown. We evaluated whether ICU acuity was associated with outcomes of low mortality-risk patients. We hypothesized that admission to high-acuity ICUs would be associated with worse outcomes. This hypothesis was based on two possibilities: 1) high-acuity ICUs may have a culture of aggressive therapy that could lead to potentially avoidable complications and 2) high-acuity ICUs may focus attention toward the many sicker patients and away from the fewer low-risk patients.Retrospective cohort study.Three hundred twenty-two ICUs in 199 hospitals in the Philips eICU database between 2010 and 2015.Adult ICU patients at low risk of dying, defined as an Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation-IVa-predicted mortality of 3% or less.ICU acuity, defined as the mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IVa score of all admitted patients in a calendar year, stratified into quartiles.We used generalized estimating equations to test whether ICU acuity is independently associated with a primary outcome of ICU length of stay and secondary outcomes of hospital length of stay, hospital mortality, and discharge destination. The study included 381,997 low-risk patients. Mean ICU and hospital length of stay were 1.8 ± 2.1 and 5.2 ± 5.0 days, respectively. Mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IVa-predicted hospital mortality was 1.6% ± 0.8%; actual hospital mortality was 0.7%. In adjusted analyses, admission to low-acuity ICUs was associated with worse outcomes compared with higher-acuity ICUs. Specifically, compared with the highest-acuity quartile, ICU length of stay in low-acuity ICUs was increased by 0.24 days; in medium-acuity ICUs by 0.16 days; and in high-acuity ICUs by 0.09 days (all p0.001). Similar patterns existed for hospital length of stay. Patients in lower-acuity ICUs had significantly higher hospital mortality (odds ratio, 1.28 [95% CI, 1.10-1.49] for low-; 1.24 [95% CI, 1.07-1.42] for medium-, and 1.14 [95% CI, 0.99-1.31] for high-acuity ICUs) and lower likelihood of discharge home (odds ratio, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.82-0.90] for low-, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.85-0.92] for medium-, and 0.95 [95% CI, 0.92-0.99] for high-acuity ICUs).Admission to high-acuity ICUs is associated with better outcomes among low mortality-risk patients. Future research should aim to understand factors that confer benefit to patients with different risk profiles.

Introduction: Patients who require invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) often represent a sequence of care between the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU). Despite being the most populous state, little information exists to define patterns of IMV use within the state of California. Methods: We examined data from the masked Patient Discharge Database of California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development from 2000-2009. Adult patients who received IMV during their stay were identified using the International Classification of Diseases 9th Revision and Clinical Modification procedure codes (96.70, 96.71, 96.72). Patients were divided into age strata (18-34yr, 35-64yr, and >65yr). Using descriptive statistics and regression analyses, for IMV discharges during the study period, we quantified the number of ED vs. non-ED based admissions; changes in patient characteristics and clinical outcome; evaluated the marginal costs for IMV; determined predictors for prolonged acute mechanical ventilation (PAMV, i.e. IMV>96hr); and projected the number of IMV discharges and ED-based admissions by year 2020. Results: There were 696,634 IMV discharges available for analysis. From 2000–2009, IMV discharges increased by 2.8%/year: n=60,933 (293/100,000 persons) in 2000 to n=79,868 (328/100,000 persons) in 2009. While ED-based admissions grew by 3.8%/year, non-ED-based admissions remained stable (0%). During 2000-2009, fastest growth was noted for 1) the 35–64 year age strata; 2) Hispanics; 3) patients with non-Medicare public insurance; and 4) patients requiring PAMV. Average total patient cost-adjusted charges per hospital discharge increased by 29% from 2000 (from $42,528 to $60,215 in 2014 dollars) along with increases in the number of patients discharged to home and skilled nursing facilities. Higher marginal costs were noted for younger patients (ages 18-34yr), non-whites, and publicly insured patients. Some of the strongest predictors for PAMV were age 35-64 years (OR=1.12; 95% CI [1.09-1.14], p

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity (the presence of multiple chronic conditions) is associated with high levels of healthcare utilization and associated costs. We investigated the association between number of chronic conditions and costs of care for nonelderly and elderly Veterans Affairs (VA) patients, and estimated mean VA healthcare costs for the most prevalent and most costly combinations of 3 conditions (triads). METHODS: We identified a cohort of 5,233,994 patients who received care within the VA system in fiscal year 2010. We estimated the costs of VA care for each patient using established methods and aggregated costs for inpatient care, outpatient care, prescription drugs, and contract care. Using ICD-9 diagnosis fields from all inpatient and outpatient records, we determined the prevalence of 28 chronic conditions and all condition triads. We then compared the condition-cost gradient, most prevalent triads, and most costly triads among nonelderly (below 65 y) and elderly (65 y and above) patients. RESULTS: Almost one third of nonelderly and slightly more than a third of elderly VA patients had ≥ 3 conditions, but these patients accounted for 65% and 67% of total VA healthcare costs, respectively. The most common triad of chronic conditions for both nonelderly and elderly patients was diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension (24% and 29%, respectively). Conditions that were present in the most costly triads included spinal cord injury, heart failure, renal failure, ischemic heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, and depression. Although patients with the most costly triads had average costs that were 3 times higher than average costs among patients with ≥ 3 conditions, the prevalence of these costly triads was extremely low (0.1%–0.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with multiple chronic conditions account for a disproportionate share of VA healthcare expenditures. Interventions that aim to optimize care and contain costs for multimorbid patients need to incorporate strategies specific to the most prevalent and the most costly combinations of conditions.

Research Objective We examined rates of specific health conditions among female veteran patients and how the share of health care costs attributable to these conditions changed in the Veterans Affairs system between 2000 and 2008. Methods Veterans’ Administration (VA)-provided and VA-sponsored inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy utilization and cost files were analyzed for women veterans receiving care in 2000 and 2008. We estimated rates of 42 common health conditions and per-patient condition costs from a regression model and calculated the total population costs attributable to each condition and changes by year. Results The number of female VA patients increased from 156,305 in 2000 to 266,978 in 2008; 88% were under 65 years of age. The rate of women treated for specific conditions increased substantially for many gender-specific and psychiatric conditions: For example, pregnancy increased 133%, diagnosed posttraumatic stress disorder increased 106%, and diagnosed depression increased 41%. Mean costs of care increased from $4,962 per woman in 2000 to $6,570 per woman in 2008. Psychiatric conditions accounted for more than one quarter of population health care costs in 2008. Gender-specific conditions and musculoskeletal diseases accounted for a rising share of population costs and rose to 8.2% and 8.7% of population costs in 2008, respectively. Conclusion Gender-specific, cancer, musculoskeletal, and mental health and substance use disorders accounted for a greater share of overall costs during the study period and were primarily driven by higher rates of diagnosed conditions and, for several conditions, higher treatment costs.

OBJECTIVE The effect of long-acting injectable (LAI) risperidone on health care costs was determined in a multisite clinical trial. METHOD Veterans Health Administration patients with unstable schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder established by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (N = 369) were randomized between 2006 and 2009 to long-acting risperidone or physician's choice of oral antipsychotic. Health care utilization and cost were tracked in administrative data. Medication administered by the trial was recorded on case report forms. Medication cost was based on unit costs to the US Medicaid program. Economic outcomes were assessed with the Quality of Well-Being instrument. RESULTS Participants randomized to LAI risperidone (n = 187) incurred $14,916 per quarter in total health care costs, which was not significantly different from the $13,980 cost incurred by the control group (P = .732) (n = 182). The LAI group incurred $3,028 per quarter in medication cost, significantly more than the $1,913 incurred by the control group (P = .003). Hospitalization costs were $7,088 in the experimental group and $6,891 in the control group (P = .943); outpatient costs were $11,888 in the experimental group and $12,067 in the control group (P = .639). LAI risperidone did not result in better outcomes as evaluated by a measure of schizophrenia symptoms or an assessment of health related quality of life and incurred more adverse events. CONCLUSIONS Patients with unstable schizophrenia were randomized in a practical trial of LAI risperidone. This antipsychotic significantly increased medication costs but did not reduce hospital or total health care cost or improve outcomes and was thus not cost-effective. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00132314.

Patients with schizophrenia enrolled in a trial of long-acting injectable risperidone at multiple sites of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). We considered if the trial participants were representative of the targeted group of high-utilization patients with poor adherence to anti-psychotics.Participants' characteristics, health services utilization, and cost in the year prior to randomization were compared to a randomly selected time-matched cohort of 10,000 other patients with schizophrenia who were not in the trial.There were few differences in the characteristics, utilization, or cost between trial participants and non-participants who met the key trial inclusion criterion of a history of psychiatric hospitalization in the prior 24 months. Trial participants were more likely to be African-American (45.5% vs. 35.1%, p.001) and were less likely to have had a medical-surgical hospitalization in the study year (8.2% vs. 19.2% p.001). Compared to non-participants who did not meet the inclusion criterion, trial participants were more likely to have a psychiatric condition in addition to schizophrenia (81.0% vs. 51.3%, p.001), more likely to have a substance abuse disorder (46.3% vs. 13.9% p.001), and less likely to be adherent with their anti-psychotic medication (21.3% vs. 37.9%, p.001). They also incurred more than three times the annual cost ($42,563 vs. $12,270, p.001).Trial participants appeared to be representative of the 23.3% of VHA patients with schizophrenia who met the key trial inclusion criterion, suggesting that trial findings will be relevant to the broader group of high risk patients.