Children from rural areas who receive treatment at children's hospitals experience more expensive care and a higher frequency of readmissions, according to a study published in Pediatrics and covered by MedPage Today.
For the analysis, researchers examined more than 600,000 children's hospital admissions across 41 facilities between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2012. Twelve percent of all admissions were nonrural patients. Rural children tended to have more complex chronic conditions and live in more impoverished areas. These patients experienced higher inpatient costs averaging $8,507, while the nonrural average inpatient cost was 7,814. They also displayed a 10 percent higher likelihood of 30-day readmission.
The disparities in inpatient cost and the heightened chances of readmission remained statistically significant after excluding data from neonates younger than 30 days old.
Alon Peltz, MD, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and one of the study's authors, told MedPage the study suggests the healthcare community needs to consider new approaches to providing care to rural communities.
"Better connecting specialized children's hospitals and rural healthcare professionals will help improve the way we care for rural children, particularly children with medically complex conditions, after hospitalizations," Dr. Peltz told MedPage.
Dr. Peltz expressed hope that clinical programs developing care measures to prevent hospital readmissions will take notice of the results, but acknowledged that more research is needed to discern how best to coordinate care for rural children.
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