Hawaii’s hospitals spent nearly $112 million in 2008 on 10,856 patient stays that could possibly have been prevented with timely and effective ambulatory care, according to the latest estimates from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Hospital care represents the largest component of overall health care expenditures.  Reducing preventable hospitalizations is one way to lower America's $ 2.2 trillion medical bill.

Some hospitalizations can be potentially prevented with timely and effective ambulatory care. High admission rates for these potentially preventable conditions may indicate a need for improvements in access to ambulatory care and in the quality of care provided, as well as in patient adoption of healthy lifestyles and active self-management of chronic conditions. Thus, reducing the frequency of potentially preventable hospitalizations would be an effective strategy for lowering costs while improving quality of care and patient outcomes. Of the $112 million spent on potentially preventable hospitalizations in Hawaii:

 

• Congestive heart failure and bacterial pneumonia accounted for about half of the expenses—$31.1 and $27.4 million respectively.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma accounted for roughly 10 percent—$11 million.
• Diabetes, including complications, accounted for 12 percent—$13 million.

Data source:  HHIC Inpatient Database, a database of hospital inpatient stays in all short-term, acute care hospitals in Hawaii. The data include all patients, regardless of insurance type, as well as the uninsured.