Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36976594›Full record

Observational studyThe western journal of emergency medicine2023

The Impact of "Emergency-only" Hemodialysis on Hospital Cost and Resource Utilization.

Farina Shafqat, Shamie Das, Matthew A Wheatley, Lauren Kasper, Sarah Johnson, Stephen R Pitts, Michael A Ross

Open access · goldFull text readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in The western journal of emergency medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Farina ShafqatEmory University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Shamie DasEmory University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Matthew A WheatleyEmory University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Lauren KasperEmory University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Sarah JohnsonEmory University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Stephen R PittsEmory University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Michael A RossEmory University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Emory University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionUndocumented immigrants are excluded from benefits that help compensate for scheduled outpatient hemodialysis (HD), compelling them to use emergency departments (ED) for HD. Consequently, these patients can receive "emergency-only" HD after presenting to the ED with critical illness due to untimely dialysis. Our objective was to describe the impact of emergency-only HD on hospital cost and resource utilization in a large academic health system that includes public and private hospitals.

methodsThis retrospective observational study of health and accounting records took place at five teaching hospitals (one public, four private) over 24 consecutive months from January 2019 to December 2020. All patients had emergency and/or observation visits, renal failure codes (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Rev, Clinical Modification), emergency HD procedure codes, and an insurance status of "self-pay." Primary outcomes included frequency of visits, total cost, and length of stay (LOS) in the observation unit. Secondary objectives included evaluating the variation in resource use between persons and comparing these metrics between the private and public hospitals.

resultsA total of 15,682 emergency-only HD visits were made by 214 unique persons, for an average of 36.6 visits per person per year. The average cost per visit was $1,363, for an annual total cost of $10.7 million. The average LOS was 11.4 hours. This resulted in 89,027 observation-hours annually, or 3,709 observation-days. The public hospital dialyzed more patients compared to the private hospitals, especially due to repeat visits by the same persons.

conclusionHealth policies that limit hemodialysis of uninsured patients to the ED are associated with high healthcare costs and a misuse of limited ED and hospital resources.

Indexed as

Hospital CostsRenal DialysisEmergency Service, HospitalHealth Care CostsHumansLength of StayRetrospective StudiesUnited States

Identifiers

PMID36976594
PMCPMC10047748
OpenAlexW4327815288

What OpenQuestion holds

Textfull text, public
LicenceCC BY
measurements read3
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.