Identifying potentially preventable emergency department (PPED) visits among patients with cancer in Ontario.

25Background: Cancer patients (pts) often visit the emergency department (ED) when symptoms and side effects occur. Growing evidence suggests that some treatment-related toxicities can be managed proactively in outpatient clinics, improving patient experience and optimizing acute care utilization. Understanding PPED visits is crucial to developing and evaluating such improvement efforts. Our objectives were to quantify the extent of PPED visits in Ontario among cancer pts and identify the best measure of PPED for province-wide quality improvement. Methods: By linking Activity Level Reporting to the Discharge Abstract Database and the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System, we identified cancer pts who had ED visits or hospitalizations up to 30 days after receiving chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015 in Ontario. Episodes were stratified as ED Only or Indirect Admission (ED visit leading to hospitalization). We mapped the presenting Canadian Emergency Department Informat...