Purpose: Identification and mitigation of obesity-related risks to staff and healthcare organisations can occur using patient obesity data; however, a 2017/18 audit of obesity data accuracy was assessed to be poor. This study investigates the results of an intervention to improve obesity data recording and coding accuracy at an Australian hospital.
Background: Increasing population obesity rates result in increased organisational and financial risks to hospitals.
Purpose: Pressure on Australia's healthcare system is increasing annually due to corresponding increases in chronic diseases such as obesity and rapidly ageing population growth across Australia, resulting in requirements for increased funding. This study investigates the financial impact to hospitals due to inaccurate obese patient recording and coding.
Background: Australian healthcare organisations receive Activity-Based Funding (ABF) which provides reimbursement of costs relating to the type of patient care delivered and the resources required for the patient treatment.
This literature review explores obesity risks to healthcare staff and organizations that manage and caring for obese (bariatric) patients. These risks are anticipated to increase due to Australian population obesity rate projections increasing from 31% in 2018 to 42% by the year 2035, which will result in increased hospital admissions of patients with obesity. Literature searches were conducted through the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science.
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