Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Algorithm identifies mental health-related avoidable hospital days in youth, suggesting improved care access and reduced hospital stays.
Youth hospitalized for a mental health (MH) condition frequently experience MH‐related avoidable hospital days (MH‐ADs), or days in which they remain hospitalized for a MH reason despite not requiring services unique to a medical hospital. However, there is currently no reliable method for identifying MH‐ADs across healthcare systems, preventing investigation of this systemic problem. A universal and efficient method of determining MH‐ADs is needed to guide improvements in access to care for youth with MH needs while reducing unnecessary medical hospital days. Our objectives were to create an administrative algorithm for identifying MH‐ADs and to evaluate the algorithm's validity using clinical data from a single hospital site. The resulting algorithm, drawing on coding and billing data from the Pediatric Health Information System Database, identified MH‐ADs with good sensitivity (79.9%), specificity (79.2%), and positive predictive value (95.1%), but low negative predictive value (43.5%) when compared to clinically determined MH‐ADs.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
DePorre et al. (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: