Cataracts: Complications within 30 Days Following Cataract Surgery Requiring Additional Surgical Procedures. In the United States, cataracts affect more than 24 million adults over 40 years. (NEI, 2016) According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), cataract surgery leads to favorable outcomes and improved vision. (AAO, 2016) Although uncommon, complications from cataract surgery do occur and may result in vision loss. (AAO, 2016) 1. Scientific basis for assessing short-term complications following cataract surgery. This short-term outcome of surgery indicator seeks to identify those complications from surgery that can reasonably be attributed to the surgery and surgeon and which reflect situations which - if untreated - generally result in significant avoidable vision loss that would negatively impact patient functioning. Further, it seeks to reduce surgeon burden and enhance accuracy in reporting by focusing on those significant complications that can be assessed from administrative data alone and which can be captured by the care of another physician or the provision of additional, separately coded, post-operative services. Finally, it focuses on patient safety and monitoring for events that, while hopefully uncommon, can signify important issues in the care being provided. For example, the need to reposition or exchange an intraocular lens (IOL) reflects in part 'wrong power' IOL placement, a major patient safety issue. In order to achieve these ends, the indicator excludes patients with other known, pre-operative ocular conditions that could impact the likelihood of developing a complication. Based on the results of the Cataract Appropriateness Project at RAND, other published studies, and one analysis performed on a national MCO data base, the exclusion codes would preserve over 2/3 of all cataract surgery cases for analysis. Thus, this provides a 'clean' indicator that captures care for the large majority of patients undergoing cataract surgery. 2. Evidence for gap in care. The advances in technology and surgical skills over the last 30 years have made cataract surgery much safer and more effective although complications that threaten vision do occur. For example, a study of more than 220,000 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent cataract surgery between 1994 and 2006 found that more than 1,000, or about 0.5%, of patients had at least one severe post-operative complication. These severe complications were defined as endophthalmitis (0.16%), suprachoroidal hemorrhage (0.06%), and retinal detachment (0.26%). (Stein, 2011) In a review, Taban et al. found a postoperative rate of endophthalmitis of 0.128%. (Taban, 2005) The occurrence of one of these events is associated with a significant potential for vision loss that is otherwise avoidable.
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality
DataType
Cardinality