Percentage-acute-care-hospital-days-alternate-level-care

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Percentage of acute care hospital days spent as alternate level of care (ALC) (Retired)

Alternate Name

Percentage of acute care days occupied by patients waiting for discharge to a more appropriate care setting.

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the proportion of days an acute care patient was assigned to the alternate level of care (ALC) patient service. ALC patients are those who no longer need acute care services but continue to occupy an acute care bed or use acute care resources while waiting to be discharged to a more appropriate care setting.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting, Quality Improvement Plans (QIPs)

Dimension

Efficient

Type

Process

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Percentage

Calculation Methods

This indicator is calculated as the numerator divided by the denominator times 100

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

Total number of acute care inpatient days designated as ALC in a given time period (i.e. monthly, quarterly, and yearly).

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

Total number of acute care inpatient days in a given time period (i.e. monthly, quarterly, and yearly).

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

None

Data Source

Discharge Abstract Database (DAD)

Data provided to HQO by

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Institution, Region, Time

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

1. Only includes acute care hospital beds. 2. Only includes closed cases (those patients designated ALC who have been discharged) and so may miss cases that carry over to the next fiscal year. 3. This indicator is based on discharge. Successes resulting in a higher rate of discharges in ALC clients will result in an initial spike in the results. Discharges of long-stay ALC clients will attribute all days to the time period of discharge, also potentially skewing the results. Point-in-time results must be analysed with caution, and trending of this indicator is preferred.

Comments Summary

This indicator has been replaced by "Alternate Level of Care Rate" in both HQO's public reporting and Quality Improvement Plans