Sepsis Order Set Use Associated With Increased Care Value.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is common and expensive, and evidence suggests that sepsis order sets may help to improve care. Very incomplete evidence exists regarding the effects of sepsis order sets on the value of care produced by hospitals or the societal costs of sepsis care. RESEARCH QUESTION: In patients hospitalized for sepsis, is the receipt a of a sepsis order set vs no order set associated with improved value of care, defined as decreased hospital mortality, decreased hospital direct variable costs, and decreased societal spending on hospitalizations? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included patients discharged with sepsis International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, codes over 2 years from a large integrated delivery system. Using a propensity score, sepsis order set users were matched to nonusers to study the association between sepsis order set use and the value of care from the hospital and societal perspective. The association between order set receipt and hospital mortality, direct variable cost, and hospital revenue also were examined in a priori defined subgroups of sepsis severity and hospital mortality. RESULTS: The study included 97,249 patients, with 52,793 patients (54%) receiving the sepsis order set. The propensity score match analysis included 55,542 patients, with 27,771 patients in each group. Recipients of the sepsis order set showed a 3.3% lower hospital mortality rate and a $1,487 lower median direct variable total cost (P < .01 for both). Median payer-neutral reimbursement (PNR), a proxy for hospital revenue and thus societal costs, was $465 lower for sepsis order set users (P < .01). Receipt of the sepsis order set was associated with a $1,022 increase in contribution margin, the difference between direct variable costs and PNR per patient. INTERPRETATION: Receipt of the sepsis order set was associated with improved value of care, from both a hospital and societal perspective.

Order Set Usage is Associated With Lower Hospital Mortality in Patients With Sepsis.

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign recommends standard operating procedures for patients with sepsis. Real-world evidence about sepsis order set implementation is limited. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the effect of sepsis order set usage on hospital mortality. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-four acute care hospitals in the United States from December 1, 2020 to November 30, 2022 involving 104,662 patients hospitalized for sepsis. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Hospital mortality. RESULTS: The sepsis order set was used in 58,091 (55.5%) patients with sepsis. Initial mean sequential organ failure assessment score was 0.3 lower in patients for whom the order set was used than in those for whom it was not used (2.9 sd [2.8] vs 3.2 [3.1], p < 0.01). In bivariate analysis, hospital mortality was 6.3% lower in patients for whom the sepsis order set was used (9.7% vs 16.0%, p < 0.01), median time from emergency department triage to antibiotics was 54 minutes less (125 interquartile range [IQR, 68-221] vs 179 [98-379], p < 0.01), and median total time hypotensive was 2.1 hours less (5.5 IQR [2.0-15.0] vs 7.6 [2.5-21.8], p < 0.01) and septic shock was 3.2% less common (22.0% vs 25.4%, p < 0.01). Order set use was associated with 1.1 fewer median days of hospitalization (4.9 [2.8-9.0] vs 6.0 [3.2-12.1], p < 0.01), and 6.6% more patients discharged to home (61.4% vs 54.8%, p < 0.01). In the multivariable model, sepsis order set use was independently associated with lower hospital mortality (odds ratio 0.70; 95% CI, 0.66-0.73). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In a cohort of patients hospitalized with sepsis, order set use was independently associated with lower hospital mortality. Order sets can impact large-scale quality improvement efforts.