Present On Admission (POA) Submission
Important for Analysis (Part 1 of 3)

The Texas Health Care Information Collection (THCIC) releases yearly quality reports for each of the hospitals based on the Agency for Healthcare Quality (AHRQ) indicators. These reports do not take into account the possibility of certain diagnosis, such as an infection, that might have been present on admission. This could be interpreted incorrectly and appear to be a hospital acquired infection (HAI).

As we know, a key factor in tracking quality in the hospital setting is the ability to separate the pre-existing conditions a patient has upon arrival from conditions acquired during their stay. While some hospital-acquired conditions may occur even with the most vigilant processes, recording of diagnoses present on admission is a crucial step in tracking and assessing a hospital’s performance.

Until recently, the THCIC had not required that hospitals submit the POA indicator as to allow hospitals the benefit of time in transitioning and establishing their processes for coding accurately. THCIC will require the present-on-admission (POA) flag in all inpatient claims starting with January 2011 discharges. The POA flag is not required for outpatient data.

Now that THCIC has implemented this requirement, it will help improve the consumer reports made available to the public. The 2011 consumer reports for quality will be made available during the summer of 2013, according to established timelines.