Postadmission sepsis as a screen for quality problems: a case-control study.

The present on admission (POA) indicator used with diagnosis codes listed in hospital discharge abstracts makes it possible to screen for possible in-hospital complications, which may in turn point to quality of care problems. A case-control study was performed among 382 patients from 30 New York State hospitals to see if lapses in quality were associated with the development of postadmission sepsis. Cases with hospital-acquired sepsis (labeled not POA) were compared with matched controls without sepsis.