Table 1.
Baseline patient characteristics before and after propensity matching
| Characteristic | Before matching |
After matching |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transferred (n=54 995) | Non-transferred (n=3 258 325) | Transferred (n=53 420) | Non-transferred (n=53 420) | |
| Patient characteristics | ||||
| Age, mean (SD) | 77.4 (0.04) | 80.3 (0.03) | 77.4 (0.04) | 77.9 (0.05) |
| Male, n (%) | 27 511 (50.0) | 1,340,241 (41.1) | 26 703 (50.0) | 27 551 (51.6) |
| Race, n (%) | ||||
| White | 48 145 (87.5) | 2 792 697 (85.7) | 46 835 (87.7) | 46 961 (87.9) |
| Black | 4540 (8.3) | 306 613 (9.4) | 4364 (8.2) | 4274 (8.0) |
| Hispanic | 684 (1.2) | 59 105 (1.8) | 663 (1.2) | 641 (1.2) |
| Other | 1626 (3.0) | 99 910 (3.1) | 1558 (2.9) | 1544 (2.9) |
| DRG-weight, mean (SD) | 1.6 (0.004) | 1.6 (0.002) | 1.6 (0.005) | 1.6 (0.005) |
| HCC Risk Score, mean (SD)* | 3.5 (0.01) | 2.8 (0.006) | 3.5 (0.01) | 3.6 (0.02) |
| Medicaid coinsurance, n (%) | 1.3 (0.01) | 1.4 (0.006) | 1.3 (0.01) | 1.4 (0.01) |
| Hospitalisations in past 12 months, n (%) | 1.57 (0.004) | 1.65 (0.002) | 1.57 (0.005) | 1.57 (0.005) |
| Median income per household by census tract, mean (SD) | 52 215 (579) | 52 952 (619) | 52 218 (581) | 52 271 (527) |
| Hospital characteristics † | ||||
| Size, n(%): | ||||
| Small (<99 beds) | 16 196 (29.4) | 313 325 (9.6) | 15 883 (29.7) | 15 188 (28.4) |
| Medium (100–399 beds) | 33 684 (61.2) | 1 903 872 (58.4) | 32 810 (61.4) | 33 734 (63.1) |
| Large (≥400 beds) | 5115 (9.3) | 1 041 128 (32.0) | 4727 (8.8) | 4498 (8.4) |
| Geographic location, n(%): | ||||
| Northeast | 13 210 (24.0) | 642 216 (19.7) | 12 825 (24.0) | 13 382 (25.1) |
| Midwest | 12 349 (22.5) | 764 911 (23.5) | 12 084 (22.6) | 11 896 (22.3) |
| South | 23 612 (42.9) | 1 379 349 (42.3) | 22 914 (42.9) | 22 603 (42.3) |
| West | 5824 (10.6) | 471 849 (14.5) | 5597 (10.5) | 5539 (10.4) |
| Ownership, n(%): | ||||
| For-Profit | 2407 (4.4) | 4 97 823 (15.3) | 2092 (3.9) | 1893 (3.5) |
| Not for Profit | 12 895 (23.4) | 1 110 144 (34.1) | 12 474 (23.2) | 12 871 (24.1) |
| Public | 39 693 (72.2) | 1 650 358 (50.7) | 38 854 (72.7) | 38 656 (72.4) |
| Teaching status, n(%): | ||||
| Major | 9246 (16.8) | 504 802 (15.5) | 9028 (16.9) | 9100 (17.0) |
| Minor | 38 177 (69.4) | 2 410 980 (74.0) | 37 047 (69.4) | 37 122 (69.5) |
| Non-teaching | 7572 (13.8) | 3 42 543 (10.5) | 7345 (13.7) | 7198 (13.5) |
| Urban location, n(%) | 49 260 (89.6) | 3 167 897 (97.2) | 47 808 (89.5) | 48 346 (90.5) |
| Case mix index, mean (SD) | 1.4 (0.004) | 1.6 (0.005) | 1.4 (0.004) | 1.4 (0.005) |
| Composite score of other hospital specialty services, mean (SD)‡ | 22.2 (0.29) | 28.8 (0.34) | 22.0 (0.29) | 22.0 (0.28) |
*
CMS-Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) risk score.27
†
Presented hospital characteristics for the transferred beneficiaries are characteristics of index hospital.
‡
Score ranged from 0 to 55. DRG, diagnosis-related group.