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Emergency Department Visits for Hypoglycemia in Older Adults with Diabetes

For members 67 years of age and older with diabetes (types 1 and 2), the risk-adjusted ratio of observed to expected (O/E) emergency department (ED) visits for hypoglycemia during the measurement year. Two rates are reported:

  • For all members 67 years of age and older with diabetes (types 1 and 2) the risk-adjusted ratio of O/E ED visits for hypoglycemia during the measurement year, stratified by dual eligibility.
  • For a subset of members 67 years of age and older with diabetes (types 1 and 2) who had at least one dispensing event of insulin within each 180-day (6-month) treatment period from July 1 of the year prior to the measurement year through December 31 of the measurement year, the risk-adjusted ratio of O/E ED visits for hypoglycemia, stratified by dual eligibility.

Date Reviewed: May 9, 2024

Measure Info

HEDIS EDH
Measure Type
Process
Measure Steward
National Committee for Quality Assurance
Clinical Topic Area
Diabetes

Care Setting
Outpatient
Data Source
Claims

ACP does not support “Emergency Department Visits for Hypoglycemia in Older Adults with Diabetes” at the health plan level because there is no testing data. While it is important to treat hypoglycemia, the measure is targeting a small percentage of the population with diabetes that go to the emergency department (ED). There appears to be a low overall event rate, which indicates the performance measure does not necessarily impact clinical outcomes. Many times, hypoglycemia is related to patient clinical characteristics and not treatment, such as patients with higher risk of cardiovascular events. In practice, there may be consequences of stopping treatment for patients with higher risk factors for hypoglycemia. There is strong evidence for caution in treatment and more vigilance in follow-up for older patients with diabetes, but there is no publicly available testing data available that demonstrates the performance measure’s reliability and validity. This performance measure is appropriate for use at the health plan level, but it is unclear whether this performance measure is only applied to hospital EDs. Finally, some patients may pay for medications out-of-pocket or use secondary insurance for pharmacy coverage, and those pharmacy claims may not be available to the health plan for this performance measure.