Any Ambulatory Care–Sensitive (ACS) ED Visit

Identifying Attributes

Care Settings
Dementia Care
Country
United States of America
Publishing Organisation
Stephens et al. (2012)
Type of Quality Indicator
Outcome
IOM Quality Dimension
Effectiveness
Domain
Risks During Hospitalisation

Defining Attributes

Definition

1-year prevalence of ambulatory care–sensitive (ACS) ED use by nursing home (NH) residents

Numerator

Number of residents with any ED visit (with or without hospitalisation) for an ambulatory care–sensitive (ACS) condition. Commonly used ACS conditions were defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnostic codes developed by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (2001) from the inpatient and outpatient claims files.

Denominator

Number of residents

Exclusions
Use of Risk Adjustment
No
Risk Adjustments
Stratifications

Collection and Reporting Attributes

Type of Data Collection
Administrative data
Data Collection Methods

CMS Beneficiary Summary File, Minimum Data Set (MDS), Medical Provider Analysis and Review File and Outpatient Standard Analytic Files,

Frequency of Data Collection
Continuous
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
1
Reporting Methods
Reporting Frequency
Reporting Frequency in Days
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
No

Source and Reference Attributes

Evidence Source

Stephens, C. E., Newcomer, R., Blegen, M., Miller, B., & Harrington, C. (2012). Emergency department use by nursing home residents: effect of severity of cognitive impairment. The Gerontologist, 52(3), 383-393.

Technical Specifications
Link to Measurement Tools
Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
No
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
No
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
02 December 2025