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Nursing home (NH) hospitalizations place an enormous economic burden on an already overtaxed American healthcare system. Hospitalizations for “ambulatory care-sensitive” (ACS) conditions are considered preventable, as these are physical health conditions that can potentially be treated safely in a NH. The authors examined risk factors, including mental disorders and dementia, for hospitalization of Medicaid-enrolled NH residents with ACS conditions during fiscal year 2003–2006.

The authors merged Medicaid claims and enrollment data and Online Survey Certification and Reporting information for 72,251 Medicaid-enrolled NH residents in 647 NHs in Florida. The authors identified at least one ACS hospitalization in 8,382 residents for a total of 10,091 hospital admissions (18.5% of all hospitalizations). The authors used Cox proportional hazard regression to assess time to the first ACS …