Measures of ASC patient fall rates and hospital transfers decreased in the third quarter of 2021, according to an ASC Quality Collaboration report.
The report collected clinical quality data from 1,758 ASCs reflecting patient admissions from July through Sept. 30. ASC chains that participated included AMSURG, Surgical Care Affiliates and United Surgical Partners International.
Five things to know:
1. The fall and hospital transfer rates fell compared to previous quarters in 2021. The patient fall rate per 1,000 ASC admissions was .15 in the third quarter compared to 0.18 in the second quarter and 0.2 in the first quarter. The rate of hospital transfers after an ASC visit was 0.82 per 1,000 admissions in the third quarter compared to 0.89 in the first and second quarters.
2. Fewer patients went to the emergency room within a day of an ASC discharge. The rate of all-cause emergency department visits was 0.74 in the third quarter of 2021 compared to a 0.77 rate in all of 2020.
3. Wrong site, wrong side, wrong patient, wrong procedure and wrong implant cases saw a slight increase in the third quarter with 0.028 incidents per 1,000 ASC admissions. That figure was .024 in the second quarter and 0.029 in the first quarter.
4. The report measured the rates of two complications for outpatient eye surgeries: toxic anterior segment syndrome and unplanned anterior vitrectomy. The percent of ASC cataract patients with unplanned anterior vitrectomy in the third quarter was 0.33 percent, up from 0.3 percent in the second quarter. Compared to all of 2020, that figure is down from 0.37 percent.
TASS rates per 1,000 anterior segment surgery patients was 0.08 in the second quarter. That's down from 0.1 percent in the second quarter and 0.083 in all of 2020.
5. There was no significant change in burn rates at ASCs in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. The third-quarter burn rate per 1,000 ASC admissions was 0.018, and in the second quarter it was 0.017. Compared to 2020, the burn rate at ASCs increased from 0.015.
