Hospitalization for ambulatory-care sensitive conditions diagnoses usually treatable in outpatient settings, suggests that the quality of care provided in the outpatient setting was less than ideal. This measure may also represent a tendency to overuse emergency rooms and urgent care as a main source of care. Preventable Hospital Stays could be classified as both a quality and access measure, as some literature describes hospitalization rates for ambulatory care sensitive conditions primarily as a proxy for access to primary health care.

For more information please visit, Preventable Hospital Stays for Cabarrus County on the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings.

Preventable Hospital Stays measures the number of hospital stays for ambulatory-care sensitive conditions per 100,000 Medicare enrollees. Rates measure the number of events (e.g., deaths, births, etc.) in a given time period (generally one or more years) divided by the average number of people at risk during that period. Rates help us compare health data across counties with different population sizes.

To learn more about the Measure Methods, please visit the Preventable Hospital Stays, Measure Methods Section, on the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings Website.