Many emergency admissions are deemed to be potentially avoidable in a well-performing health system. A study, published in BMJ Quality & Safety, sought to measure the impact of population and health system factors on county-level variation in potentially avoidable emergency admissions in Ireland over the period 2014–2016. Admissions data were used to calculate 2014–2016 age-adjusted emergency admission rates for selected conditions by county of residence. The results from the study suggest potentially avoidable emergency admissions and total/other emergency admissions are primarily driven by socioeconomic conditions, hospital admission policy and private health insurance coverage. The distinction between potentially avoidable and all other emergency admissions may not be as useful as previously believed when attempting to identify the causes of regional variation in emergency admission rates.
Read more:
- Drivers of potentially avoidable emergency admissions in Ireland: an ecological analysis. BMJ Quality & Safety. 2019