Hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions among children with chronic and complex diseases

Ambulatory-care sensitive (ACS) hospitalizations are those in which high quality outpatient care could have potentially prevented the need for hospitalization. In this study, Dr. Ryan Coller et al. evaluated ACS hospitalizations for children with non-complex chronic diseases and children with medical complexity, and sought to identify ambulatory care predictors of ACS hospitalizations. The authors found that among children with non-complex chronic diseases, 14.6% of hospitalizations were ACS hospitalizations and ACS hospitalizations were more likely with no outpatient visits in the prior year and less likely with timely well checks and phone encounters in the month before the admission. Among children with medical complexity, 5.3% of hospitalizations were ACS hospitalizations, and provider continuity was associated with fewer ACS hospitalizations.