The number of patients in the denominator discharged from acute care hospitals after an admission for congestive heart failure (CHF) who had at least one physician visit within 7 days after discharge.

The follow-up data are received in the following subcategories:

• By any health care provider
• By primary care physician (GP/FP)
• By specialist (cardiologist)

Inclusions:

1. Ontario physician visits taking place in office, home or long-term care (includes most of the follow-up (planned) emergency department visits).
2. Physician visits occurring between days 0 to 7 post-discharge (i.e., includes date of discharge).*

*If a patient’s discharge time was before 8 am, the OHIP visit was counted on day 0, otherwise the visit was not counted on the same day as it is impossible to distinguish if the visit happened before or after the discharge.

Exclusions:

1. Negated OHIP claims, duplicate claims and lab claims.
2. Records with missing or invalid data on discharge/admission date, health number, age and gender.

The number of patients aged 40 and older discharged from hospital after an admission for congestive heart failure (CHF).

Inclusions:

• Discharges from acute care hospitals with discharge date in the reporting period
• Admission for congestive heart failure (CHF) (ICD10 codes I500, I501, I509)
• Diagnosis type = "M" (main)
• Discharged home

Exclusions:

• Patients under age 40
• Deaths, acute transfers, patient sign-outs against medical advice
• Records with missing or invalid data on discharge/admission date, health number, age and sex
• Transfers to hospital or other care settings (palliative care/hospice, addiction treatment centre...) as defined by discharge disposition ‘01’, ‘03’

Direct age and sex adjusted using 2011 Canadian census population

Age groups are: 40-64, 65-79, 80+