Characteristics of hospitals included in the study
| Characteristic per hospital | Hospital-specific average | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Median (IQR)* | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Hospital volume | |||
| Annual no. of discharges | 1142.8 (427.8–5192.3) | 69.0 | 24 341.8 |
| Patients | |||
| Age, yr, mean | 63.5 (60.9–67.0) | 19.8 | 75.4 |
| Male sex, % | 46.8 (45.2–48.4) | 33.7 | 69.0 |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index score14 ≥ 1, % | 34.4 (29.3–39.8) | 10.5 | 62.6 |
| Visits to emergency department in previous 6 mo, % | 55.4 (46.5–63.9) | 19.8 | 76.8 |
| Elective admissions in previous yr, % | 9.4 (8.4–11.3) | 5.6 | 35.3 |
| Emergent admissions in previous yr, % | 32.1 (27.0–37.7) | 12.9 | 50.1 |
| Admissions | |||
| Emergent, % | 82.4 (70.2–90.0) | 19.4 | 98.8 |
| Length of stay, d, mean | 6.0 (5.4–7.2) | 2.4 | 16.9 |
| Admissions with any alternate level of care, % | 2.2 (1.4–3.6) | 0.0 | 38.7 |
| Admissions with case-mix group score‡ > 0, % | 28.0 (20.7–33.2) | 2.9 | 45.5 |
| LACE+§ score, mean | 49.0 (43.8–54.6) | 18.2 | 63.1 |
| Outcomes following discharge | |||
| Death or urgent readmission within 30 d, % | 13.2 (11.0–15.4) | 4.6 | 20.0 |
| Death within 30 d, % | 1.9 (1.5–2.4) | 0.2 | 4.3 |
| Urgent readmission within 30 d, % | 12.2 (10.2–14.1) | 4.1 | 19.3 |
Note: IQR = interquartile range.
↵* The values are medians of percentages or means for each hospital.
↵‡ Risk of death within 30 days or unplanned readmission, independent of factors known to influence this outcome;15 higher scores indicate higher risk.
↵§ Risk of death within 30 days or unplanned readmission;11 higher scores indicate higher risk.