eCQM Title

Median Admit Decision Time to ED Departure Time for Admitted Patients

eCQM Identifier (Measure Authoring Tool) 111 eCQM Version number 7.3.000
NQF Number 0497 GUID 979f21bd-3f93-4cdd-8273-b23dfe9c0513
Measurement Period January 1, 20XX through December 31, 20XX
Measure Steward Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Measure Developer Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality
Endorsed By National Quality Forum
Description
Median time (in minutes) from admit decision time to time of departure from the emergency department for emergency department patients admitted to inpatient status.
Copyright
Measure specifications are in the Public Domain.

LOINC (R) is a registered trademark of the Regenstrief Institute.

This material contains SNOMED CT (R) copyright 2004-2017 International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
These performance measures are not clinical guidelines and do not establish a standard of medical care and have not been tested for all potential applications. The measures and specifications are provided without warranty.

CMS has contracted with Mathematica Policy Research and its subcontractors, Lantana and Telligen, for the continued maintenance of this electronic measure.
Measure Scoring Continuous Variable
Measure Type Process
Stratification
Report total score and the following strata: 
Stratification 1 - all patients seen in the ED and admitted as an inpatient who do not have an inpatient encounter principal diagnosis consistent with psychiatric/mental health disorders
Stratification 2 - all patients seen in the ED and admitted as an inpatient who have an inpatient encounter principal diagnosis consistent with psychiatric/mental health disorders
Risk Adjustment
None
Rate Aggregation
Calculate the duration in minutes between the Decision to Admit time and the departure time for each ED encounter in the measure population; report the median time for all calculations performed. The specification provides elements from the clinical electronic record required to calculate for each ED encounter, i.e., the duration the patient was in the Emergency Department after the decision to admit, also stated as: the Datetime difference between the Emergency Department facility location departure date/time and the Decision to Admit date/time. The calculation requires the median across all ED encounter durations.
Rationale
Reducing the time patients remain in the emergency department (ED) can improve access to treatment and increase quality of care. Reducing this time potentially improves access to care specific to the patient condition and increases the capability to provide additional treatment. In recent times, EDs have experienced significant overcrowding. Although once only a problem in large, urban, teaching hospitals, the phenomenon has spread to other suburban and rural healthcare organizations. According to a 2002 national U.S. survey, more than 90 percent of large hospitals report EDs operating "at" or "over" capacity. Approximately one third of hospitals in the U.S. report increases in ambulance diversion in a given year, whereas up to half report crowded conditions in the ED. In a recent national survey, 40 percent of hospital leaders viewed ED crowding as a symptom of workforce shortages. ED crowding may result in delays in the administration of medication such as antibiotics for pneumonia and has been associated with perceptions of compromised emergency care. For patients with non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction, long ED stays were associated with decreased use of guideline-recommended therapies and a higher risk of recurrent myocardial infarction. Overcrowding and heavy emergency resource demand have led to a number of problems, including ambulance refusals, prolonged patient waiting times, increased suffering for those who wait, rushed and unpleasant treatment environments, and potentially poor patient outcomes. When EDs are overwhelmed, their ability to respond to community emergencies and disasters may be compromised.
Clinical Recommendation Statement
The most common cause of ED crowding is the boarding of admitted patients in the ED.  Numerous studies have demonstrated the potential for errors, life threatening delays in treatment, and diminished overall quality is enormous.
Improvement Notation
Improvement noted as a decrease in the median value
Reference
Derlet RW, Richards JR. Emergency department overcrowding in Florida, New York, and Texas. South Med J. 2002;95:846-9.
Reference
Derlet RW, Richards JR. Overcrowding in the nation's emergency departments: complex causes and disturbing effects. Ann Emerg Med. 2000;35:63-8.
Reference
Diercks DB, et al. Prolonged emergency department stays of non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction patients are associated with worse adherence to the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for management and increased adverse events. Ann Emerg Med. 2007;50:489-96.
Reference
Fatovich DM, Hirsch RL. Entry overload, emergency department overcrowding, and ambulance bypass. Emerg Med J. 2003;20:406-9.
Reference
Hwang U, Richardson LD, Sonuyi TO, Morrison RS. The effect of emergency department crowding on the management of pain in older adults with hip fracture. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006;54:270-5.
Reference
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Future of emergency care: Hospital-based emergency care at the breaking point. The National Academies Press 2006.
Reference
Krochmal P, Riley TA. Increased health care costs associated with ED overcrowding. Am J Emerg Med. 1994;12:265-6.
Reference
Kyriacou DN, Ricketts V, Dyne PL, McCollough MD, Talan DA. A 5-year time study analysis of emergency department patient care efficiency. Ann Emerg Med. 1999;34:326-35.
Reference
Nawar ED, Niska RW, Xu J. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2005 emergency department summary. Adv Data. 2007; (386):1-32.
Reference
Richardson DB. Increase in patient mortality at 10 days associated with emergency department overcrowding. Med J Aust. 2006;184:213-6.
Reference
Sprivulis PC, et al. The association between hospital overcrowding and mortality among patients admitted via Western Australian emergency departments. Med J Aust. 2006;184:208-12.
Reference
Trzeciak S, Rivers EP. Emergency department overcrowding in the United States: an emerging threat to patient safety and public health. Emerg Med J. 2003;20:402-5.
Reference
United States General Accounting Office GAO. Hospital Emergency Departments: crowded conditions vary among hospitals and communities. 2003; GAO-03-460.
Reference
Wilper AP, Woolhandler S, Lasser KE, McCormick D, Cutrona SL, Bor DH, Himmelstein DU. Waits to see an emergency department physician: U.S. trends and predictors, 1997-2004. Health Aff (Millwood). 2008;27:w84-95.
Definition
None
Guidance
This measure specification defines how to determine the duration from a Decision to Admit and the departure from an Emergency Department stay. Reporting requires the median of all admit decision to ED departure durations defined as [Encounter: encounter ED] facility location departure date and time minus [Encounter: encounter ED] ED admit decision date and time. 

Decision to Admit: First documentation of the decision to admit the patient from the ED. Specification: as admission processes vary at different hospitals, this can use the first documented time of any of the following: 1) admission order (this may be an operational order rather than the hospital admission to inpatient status order), 2) disposition order (must explicitly state to admit), 3) documented bed request, or 4) documented acceptance from admitting physician. This is not the "bed assignment time" or "report called time".

Calculate the ED time in minutes for each patient in the measure population; report the median time for all calculations performed. The specification provides elements from the clinical electronic record required to calculate for each ED encounter, i.e., the length of time the patient was in the Emergency Department from the time of decision to admit, also stated as: the Datetime difference for the Emergency Department facility location departure date/time minus the Decision to Admit date/time. The calculation requires the median across all ED encounter durations.

For each population, results should be reported without stratification and then with each stratum applied. For this measure, the number of encounters that fall into the Initial Population are reported without stratification, then reported according to the defined stratification. The number of encounters that fall into the Measure Population are reported without stratification, then reported according to the defined stratification. The computed continuous variable defined by the Measure Observation is reported for the Measure Population also, then reported according to the defined stratification.
Transmission Format
TBD
Initial Population
Inpatient Encounters ending during the measurement period with Length of Stay (Discharge Date minus Admission Date) less than or equal to 120 days, and where the decision to admit was made during the preceding emergency department visit at the same physical facility
Measure Population
Initial Population
Measure Population Exclusions
Emergency department encounters with an admission source in "Hospital Setting" (any different facility, even if part of the same hospital system) resulting in an inpatient stay
Measure Observations
Time (in minutes) from Decision to Admit to ED facility location departure for patients admitted to the facility from the emergency department
Supplemental Data Elements
For every patient evaluated by this measure, also identify payer, race, ethnicity and sex

Table of Contents


Population Criteria

Definitions

Functions

Terminology

Data Criteria (QDM Data Elements)

Supplemental Data Elements

Risk Adjustment Variables


Measure Set
Emergency Department (ED) Measure Set