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Report shows drop in preventable hospitalizations among seniors

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 11, 2010

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Doctors appear to be doing a better job helping seniors avoid hospitalization, according to a December 2009 report from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality. From 2003 to 2007, there were considerable drops in hospitalization rates for diabetes complications, asthma, pneumonia and other conditions that often send seniors to hospitals (link).

For example, there was a 21% drop in the rate of seniors hospitalized for uncontrolled diabetes, said the AHRQ statistical brief. The rate for congestive heart failure fell by 14%, and the bacterial pneumonia rate dropped 16%.

But the hospitalization rate among seniors for hypertension went up 23%, and urinary tract infections hospitalized 15% more seniors in 2007 than in 2003. The data were drawn from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the largest collection of all-payer hospital care data in the United States.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/01/11/prbf0111.htm.

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