Hospitalization

Hospitalizations related to ambulatory care-sensitive conditions, or ACSCs — such as dehydration and UTIs — are typically avoidable when patients receive quality primary care. Although evidence suggests the rates of inpatient hospitalizations for ACSCs have decreased in recent years, the rates of hospitalizations “for observation,” which do not count as inpatient admissions, have increased, according to researchers.

Just 18% of older adults admitted to a long-term acute care hospital were alive after 5 years, making the prognosis for these patients worse than those associated with terminal illnesses, including advanced cancer and end-stage heart failure, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Inappropriate antibiotic treatment is common in hospitalized patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria, particularly among elderly patients with altered mental status, and it may lead to increased length of hospital stay, according to study results published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Use of intensive glucose-lowering agents to treat patients with diabetes and lower HbA1c may be leading to more instances of hypoglycemia that require hospital and emergency department visits, according to findings published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Patients who underwent nutrition-focused care that consisted of malnutrition risk screening and at-home use of oral nutritional supplements reduced their risk for hospitalization by almost 25%, according to findings recently published in the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

For adolescents with severe mental illness, consistent access to a single primary care physician during the transition from pediatric to adult care could ensure improved long-term outcomes, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.