Mortality-related resource utilization in the inpatient care of hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Background: Quantifying resource utilization in the inpatient care of congenital heart diease is clinically relevant. Our purpose is to measure the investment of inpatient care resources to achieve survival in hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), and to determine how much of that investment occurs in hospitalizations that have a fatal outcome, the mortality-related resource utilization fraction (MRRUF). Methods: A collaborative administrative database, the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) containing data for 43 children’s hospitals, was queried by primary diagnosis for HLHS admissions of patients ≤21 years old during 2004–2013. Institution, patient age, inpatient deaths, billed charges (BC) and length of stay (LOS) were recorded. Results: In all, 11,122 HLHS admissions were identified which account for total LOS of 277,027 inpatient-days and $3,928,794,660 in BC. There were 1145 inpatient deaths (10.3 %). LOS was greater among inpatient deaths than among patients discharged alive (median 17 vs. 12, p 
Source: Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Source Type: research