Recorded presentation

Alan R. Morse, PhD, President and CEO, The Jewish Guild for the Blind, 15 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023, 212-769-6215, armorse@jgb.org, Raymond R. Arons, DrPH, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 600 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, and Elaine S. Yatzkan, PhD, Director, Quality Assurance and Compliance, The Jewish Guild for the Blind, 15 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023.

Previously (Morse, Yatzkan, Berberich & Arons, “Acute care hospitalization by patients with visual impairment”, Arch Ophth. 117, July 1999:943-9) we documented the contribution of vision disorders to excess hospital length of stay (LOS) for patients in New York State. In this study we analyzed data from the California Patient Discharge Data set (OSPHD) for the year 1998 in which there were a total of 3.7 million discharges. 662,610 discharges, or 18%, had eye diagnoses or vision disorders in one of the top five diagnosis positions. This data set uniquely contains case specific identifiers constructed from scrambled social security numbers that permits tracking of hospitalizations by patient, which provides a rare view of resource utilization over time. We examined the contribution of eye diseases and vision disorders to the demographics, number of hospitalizations and patient days per patient, total healthcare dollars expended, discharge diagnosis, and case severity – all per discharge and cumulatively. Results continue to support our basic operational hypothesis that eye disease and vision disorder contribute to excess hospital LOS and healthcare costs across DRGs. The contribution of vision loss to increased healthcare costs is a public health issue that needs to be addressed.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

• Recognize how using large statewide or national data bases can identify trends in healthcare.
• Articulate the role of vision impairment on excess length of stay (LOS) in hospitalization.
• Assess and discuss how and why vision loss is associated with longer hospital stays.

Keywords: Vision Care,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.

Recorded presentation