Does the software account for patients assigned hospice or Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) status?
The exclusion of patients in hospice units or with documented DNR status is often desired for mortality indicators. However, since the indicators were based on a common denominator dataset, HCUP, which did not include data elements for DNR status or hospice designation, these variables could not be utilized. Hospice and DNR patients are not differentiated from other patients in the AHRQ QI software. If the input data available to the software user contains variables designating patient DNR status or hospitalization in a hospice unit, the user may choose to exclude these patients from the input data set. This should be done with caution recognizing that the calculated rates will likely differ from any comparison or reference rates produced from data that did not differentiate these patients.
