ABSTRACT
For many valid and logistical reasons, adverse effects of drugs and medical care have been under-explored by the injury community. In many states, the codes for these injuries are not reportable by mandate, making discovery about their causes impossible. In November of 1999, the Institute of Medicine published a report, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health Care System”, citing 44,000 to 98,000 deaths per year from adverse effects. This served as a wake up call to many injury investigators that these mechanisms often classified outside the scope of traditional injury inclusion criteria - deserved deeper inspection. In the state of New Hampshire, adverse effects are reported by all 26 hospitals without a mandate. Through analysis of 1999 inpatient hospitalizations, it was discovered that the number of encounters for adverse effects (E870-879 and E930-949) outnumbered the total number of all other unintentional injuries combined. (E800-E869, E880-E929) Adverse effects comprised 53% of all unintentional injuries admitted to New Hampshire hospitals. When investigating encounters treated and released from the Emergency Department (ED), the number of adverse effects visits comprised just 2.5% of unintentional injury visits. The work presented in this abstract will describe adverse effects by mechanism, demographics, level of service, outcomes, payer, and cost. Coding issues particular to underlying cause of death and associated causes will be discussed and recommendations made for improvements in the application and analysis of these codes. Discussion of reporting mandates and whether they contribute or detract from compliance will be discussed.
Learning Objectives: N/A
Keywords: Data/Surveillance, Emerging Health Issues
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.