Hospital Surveillance Practices for Venous Thromboembolism Find No Correlation to Post-Discharge VTE Rates, AHRQ-Funded Study Indicates

Hospitals with higher surveillance rates for venous thromboembolism (VTE) have higher inpatient rates of VTE but do not see those rates decline once patients are discharged, a new AHRQ-funded study has found. However, hospitals with higher inpatient VTE rates also have higher post-discharge rates, suggesting that surveillance may be influenced by the observed rates and not just the practice of monitoring alone. In the study of nearly 30,000 patients at 79 U.S Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, researchers matched administrative data from the Surgical Care Improvement Program’s (SCIP) VTE measurement population to outcomes from the VA Surgical Quality Improvement Program. They found that 296 patients, or 1.4 percent, had experienced a VTE during the index hospitalization, and that 114 patients, or 0.4 percent, did so within 30 days following surgery. The authors concluded that adhering to VA’s surgical improvement program alone is an inadequate assessment of hospital quality because it is not associated with VTE outcomes. According to the study, hospitals seeking to reduce VTE rates should implement evidence-based guidelines beyond those required for by SCIP compliance. The study and abstract, “Association Between Inpatient Surveillance and Venous Thromboembolism Rates After Hospital Discharge,” were published online April 1 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2015 Jun 1;150(6):520-7. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2015.35.

Association Between Inpatient Surveillance and Venous Thromboembolism Rates After Hospital Discharge.

Holcomb CN1, DeRussy A2, Richman JS3, Hawn MT3.

Author information

Abstract

IMPORTANCE:

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) surveillance practices in hospitals, but not adherence to Surgical Care Improvement Program VTE prophylaxis measures, have been reported to explain the variation in VTE rates in hospitals.

OBJECTIVE:

To examine the relationship between inpatient surveillance testing for VTE and postdischarge VTE rates at the hospital level to determine whether more frequent inpatient surveillance is associated with reduced occurrence of postdischarge VTEs.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:

Retrospective study of a US national cohort of Veterans Affairs (VA) patients. National VA Surgical Quality Improvement Program outcome data were linked to VA administrative data on patients undergoing inpatient surgery from 2005 to 2009 and were included in the Surgical Care Improvement Program VTE measurement population.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:

Surveillance was identified using Current Procedural Terminology codes for diagnostic VTE imaging. Relationships between hospital-level surveillance and VTE rates were assessed with Pearson correlation coefficients, and the postdischarge VTE rate was modeled using linear regression, adjusting for hospital volume, inpatient VTE rate, inpatient surveillance rate, and case mix.

RESULTS:

Of 25 975 patients at 79 VA facilities, 296 (1.4%) experienced a VTE during the index hospitalization, and 114 (0.4%) experienced a postdischarge VTE within 30 days after surgery. The median length of stay was 11 days for those with a positive surveillance test result and 9 days for those with a negative test result. There was a positive correlation between inpatient surveillance and inpatient VTE rates (R = 0.33, P = .003) but no significant correlation of inpatient surveillance with either postdischarge surveillance (R = 0.11, P = .29) or postdischarge VTE rates (R = 0.03, P = .76). In an adjusted regression model of the postdischarge VTE rate, only the inpatient VTE rate was significant (β = 0.13, P = .05).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:

Hospitals with higher VTE surveillance rates have higher inpatient VTE rates but not decreased postdischarge VTE rates. However, hospitals with higher inpatient VTE rates have higher postdischarge VTE rates, which suggests that surveillance may be influenced by higher observed rates and not surveillance practices alone.