Hospitalization for ambulatory care sensitive conditions at health insurance organization hospitals in Alexandria, Egypt

SUMMARY This study aimed at estimating the percentage of hospital discharges and days of care accounted for by Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSCs) at Health Insurance Organization (HIO) hospitals in Alexandria, calculating hospitalization rates for ACSCs among HIO population and identifying determinants of hospitalization for those conditions. A sample of 8300 medical records of patients discharged from three hospitals affiliated to HIO at Alexandria was reviewed. The rate of monthly discharges for ACSCs was estimated on the basis of counting number of combined ACSCs detected in the three hospitals and the hospitals' average monthly discharges. ACSCs accounted for about one‐fifth of hospitalizations and days of care at HIO hospitals (21.8% and 20.8%, respectively). Annual hospitalization rates for ACSCs were 152.5 per 10,000 insured population. The highest rates were attributed to cellulitis/abscess (47.3 per 10,000 population), followed by diabetes complications and asthma (42.8 and 20.8 per 10,00 population). Logistic regression indicated that age, number of previous admissions, and admission department are significant predictors for hospitalization for an ACSC. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.