National Healthcare Quality & National Healthcare Disparities Reports: Measure Specification Appendix, 2013

Measures

Potentially avoidable emergency department encounters for asthma
 

Measure Title

Potentially avoidable emergency department encounters for asthma

Measure Source

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets (CDOM), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS)

Table Description

Geographic Representation

National

Years Available

2008-2010

Population Subgroups

Age, gender, geographic location (residence), income, region

Data Source

AHRQ, CDOM, HCUP, Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, and AHRQ Quality Indicators, modified version 4.1

Denominator

U.S. civilian population ages 2-17 or age 18 and over, as appropriate

Numerator

Subset of the denominator with an emergency department asthma visit

Comments

Consistent with the AHRQ Pediatric Quality Indicators (PDIs) software, asthma must be the principal diagnosis and the following cases are excluded: admissions with cystic fibrosis or anomalies of the respiratory system, transfers from other institutions, and obstetric admissions.

Rates are adjusted by age and gender using the total U.S. population for 2000 as the U.S. standard population; when reporting is by age, the adjustment is by gender only; when reporting is by gender, the adjustment is by age only.

Although not all States participate in the HCUP database, NIS is weighted to give national estimates using weights based on all U.S. community, nonrehabilitation hospitals in the American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database.

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