unplanned-ED-palliative - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Unplanned ED visits in the last 30 days of life

Alternate Name

Percentage of people, among those who died, who had at least one unplanned emergency department visit in their last 30 days of life

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the percentage of people who had at least one unplanned emergency department visit in their last 30 days of life among those who were not in hospital the entire month.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Effective, Timely

Type

Process

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Percentage

Calculation Methods

Numerator divided by the denominator times 100

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

Number of people who had at least one unplanned emergency department visit in their last 30 days of life.

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

Number of people in Ontario who died in each year of interest.

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

None

Data Source

Discharge Abstract Database (DAD), National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS), Postal Code Conversion File Plus (PCCF+), Registered Persons Database (RPDB)

Data provided to HQO by

Cancer Care Ontario (CCO)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Age, Income, Region, Rurality, Sex, Time

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

• Missing the information on clinical details, health care needs, preferences and appropriateness of the unplanned emergency visits. • Hard to interpret as there are no benchmarks or targets on the acceptable rate of ED visits in this patient population.

Comments Summary

This indicator aligns with the palliative care QS overarching and the OPCN system level indicators.