ABSTRACT
Background. The percentage of all respiratory diagnoses prescribed an antibiotic is an outpatient stewardship metric and was introduced as a HEDIS measure in 2022. Given a stable case mix, this metric is not affected by differences in coding practices between clinicians or health systems since all respiratory diagnoses are considered together. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic introduced a high number of viral illness episodes where antibiotics are not recommended. The impact of this shift in case mix on respiratory diagnosis coding and prescribing metrics has not been explored. Methods. We examined antibiotic prescribing rates for respiratory diagnoses in a network of urgent care clinics affiliated with the University of Utah during two periods. Pre-Pandemic was Mar 2019-Feb 2020 and Pandemic was Mar 2020-Mar 2022. Respiratory diagnoses were identified using ICD10 codes and further stratified into 3 Tiers (Tier 1: antibiotics indicated;Tier 2: antibiotics sometimes indicated;Tier 3: antibiotics not indicated). We examined trends in antibiotic prescribing across these periods including the percentage of all respiratory visits prescribed antibiotics and by Tier and the distribution of diagnoses by Tier. No formalized stewardship interventions were introduced during these periods. Results. There were 146,897 urgent care visits during the study period (47,423 Pre Pandemic and 99,474 Pandemic). The respiratory prescribing rate declined from 42.3% Pre Pandemic to 26.2% during the Pandemic (Figure). The distribution of respiratory diagnoses by Tier and prescribing within Tier are shown in the Table. Tier 3 diagnoses increased from 48% to 67%, while Tier 2 diagnoses declined from 47% to 31%. Antibiotic prescribing declined for both Tier 2 and Tier 3 diagnoses. 15,429 (23%) of Tier 3 diagnoses during the Pandemic were coded as COVID-19. 50% of the reduction in prescribing is attributable to changes in Tiers alone. Figure Table Conclusion. The COVID 19 pandemic was associated with a reduction in the percentage of respiratory diagnoses prescribed antibiotics. Half was due to an increase in Tier 3 encounters although declines in prescribing occurred with Tiers in addition. Using this metric for benchmarking requires accounting for the impact of case mix differences over time or between systems and clinicians.
ABSTRACT
Background. Early bacterial co-infection is rare in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, yet antibiotics are commonly prescribed. Antibiotic stewardship (AS) intervention is needed, especially in small community hospitals (SCHs), which often lack access to AS expertise. Methods. We implemented daily remote multidisciplinary tele-COVID rounds (synchronous case review between SCH providers and ID clinicians) and tele-stewardship surveillance (ID pharmacist review of COVID patients on antibiotics) on 6/24/2020 in 17 SCHs. We retrospectively included adult symptomatic COVID-19 admissions between 3/2020 and 4/2021. The primary outcome was early use of antibiotics for pneumonia (started within 48 hours of admission);mean monthly days of therapy per 1,000 patient days (DOT) were compared pre- (3/2020-6/2020) and post-intervention (7/2020-4/2021). Secondary outcomes were early use of antibiotics for any indication, estimated days of antibiotics avoided (comparing pre- and post-intervention DOT), and in-hospital mortality. Analyses were conducted using a twotailed unpaired t-test (antibiotic use) or Fisher's exact test (mortality). Results. Of the 1,976 patients included (124 pre- vs. 1852 post-intervention), 55.4% were male and 85.5% were white. Patients in the pre-intervention group were more likely to require hospital transfer [21.8% vs 8.8% (p< 0.001)] and ICU admission [18.5% vs. 9.7% (p=0.003)]. We observed a significant decrease in mean use of early antibiotics for pneumonia [656.9 vs. 240.1 DOT (p< 0.001)], including among non-ICU patients only [603.6 vs 240.2 DOT (p< 0.001)]. Early antibiotic use for any indication also decreased [686.2 vs. 359.3 DOT (p< 0.001)]. An estimated 3,697 days of unnecessary antibiotics for pneumonia were avoided in the 10-months post-intervention [370 days per month (95% CI 304 - 435)]. Unadjusted in-hospital mortality was not different pre- vs post-intervention (0.8% vs. 2.0%, p=0.511), but was higher among those prescribed early antibiotics (4.4% vs 0.5%, p< 0.001). Conclusion. A significant, sustained reduction in antibiotic use among COVID-19 patients at 17 SCHs was observed after implementation of tele-COVID rounds and tele-stewardship surveillance without an observed difference in mortality.