Unnecessary-ED-Visits - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Emergency department visits for conditions that could be treated in an alternative primary care setting (Retired)

Alternate Name

Percentage of patients who had an unscheduled emergency department visit that potentially could have been treated in an alternative primary care setting

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator describes the percentage of patients aged 1 to 74 who had an unscheduled emergency department visit that potentially could have been treated in an alternative primary care setting, such as a family doctor's office. A lower percentage is better.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Efficient

Type

Outcome

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Percentage

Calculation Methods

The percentage is calculated as: numerator divided by the denominator times 100

Numerator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

The number of patients with an less-urgent or non-urgent unscheduled emergency department visit for a list of select conditions

(ICD -10-CA codes (MRDx): A740, B309, H100, H101, H102, H103, H104, H105, H108, H109, H130, H131, H132, H133, N300, N301, N302, N303, N304, N308, N309, N330, N390, H650, H651, H652, H653, H654, H659, H660, H661, H662, H663, H664, H669, H670, H671, H678, J00, J010, J011, J012, J013, J014, J018, J019, J028, J029, J038, J039, J040, J041, J060, J068, J069, J310, J311, J312, J320, J321, J322, J323, J324, J328, J329, J350, J351, J352, J353, J358, J359, J399)

Denominator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

The number of people in Ontario aged 0 to 74

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

Age and sex standardized

Data Source

National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS), Registered Persons Database (RPDB)

Data provided to HQO by

Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Institution, Province

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

It is not possible to know for sure if an emergency department visit could be treated in an alternative primary care setting. An emergency department visit for these conditions may not always be reflective of poor access to care for a patient. In some cases, a patient may go to the emergency department because their primary care provider works there.

Comments Summary

Retired since this indicator is no longer reported in Measuring Up. Conditions selected for this indicator are considered common high volume conditions. If multiple conditions are diagnosed throughout the emergency visit, the diagnosis/condition responsible for the greatest resource use is chosen as the most clinically-significant reason for the visit.