Table 1.
Patient characteristics, according to quintiles of hospital-level SNF rates following HF hospitalization
| Characteristics | Overall | Lowest | 2 | 3 | 4 | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNF rates | 0-83.8 | 0-13.7 | 13.8-18.7 | 18.8-23.5 | 23.6-30.0 | 30.1-83.8 |
| No. of patients | 1347425 | 275960 | 337689 | 327166 | 261948 | 144662 |
| No. of hospitals | 4101 | 820 | 822 | 819 | 820 | 820 |
| Mean age (standard deviation) | 80.5 (7.9) | 79 (7.9) | 80 (7.9) | 80.7 (7.9) | 81.4 (7.9) | 82.3 (7.8) |
| Male sex | 43.3 | 45.1 | 44.1 | 43.0 | 41.8 | 40.5 |
| White race | 84.2 | 73.6 | 82.2 | 87.4 | 89.4 | 92.3 |
| Black race | 11.7 | 19.6 | 13.3 | 9.2 | 7.8 | 5.5 |
| Other race | 4.1 | 6.7 | 4.4 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 2.1 |
| Cardiovascular and Comorbidity Conditions | ||||||
| Congestive heart failure | 75.0 | 77.1 | 76.0 | 75.4 | 75.4 | 75.0 |
| Chronic atherosclerosis | 73.0 | 74.4 | 74.0 | 73.3 | 72.0 | 71.0 |
| Arrhythmias | 63.2 | 61.5 | 63.3 | 64.2 | 62.8 | 62.0 |
| Other gastrointestinal disorders | 53.1 | 52.0 | 53.2 | 52.8 | 53.2 | 53.9 |
| Iron deficiency and other anemias | 52.1 | 51.2 | 52.0 | 52.2 | 52.5 | 53.3 |
| Diabetes mellitus and complications | 50.9 | 53.1 | 51.4 | 50.4 | 49.6 | 48.8 |
| Valvular and rheumatic heart disease | 49.2 | 48.0 | 49.1 | 50.5 | 49.8 | 46.4 |
| Vascular or circulatory disease | 48.2 | 47.0 | 48.2 | 48.3 | 48.9 | 48.6 |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 47.5 | 47.4 | 47.2 | 48.0 | 46.9 | 48.3 |
| Pneumonia | 42.1 | 40.7 | 41.0 | 41.7 | 43.0 | 44.4 |
| Disorders of fluid/electrolyte/acid-base | 41.7 | 41.9 | 41.9 | 41.5 | 41.4 | 41.9 |
| Renal failure | 38.0 | 39.5 | 38.8 | 38.1 | 36.9 | 35.5 |
| Other urinary tract disorders | 33.5 | 33.8 | 33.3 | 33.6 | 33.5 | 32.8 |
| Other and unspecified heart disease | 33.2 | 34.3 | 32.5 | 33.1 | 32.8 | 34.1 |
| Cardio-respiratory failure and shock | 20.7 | 21.0 | 21.3 | 20.6 | 20.5 | 18.6 |
| Dementia and senility | 20.5 | 18.7 | 19.6 | 20.2 | 21.8 | 23.9 |
| Cancer | 20.3 | 20.0 | 20.4 | 20.7 | 20.4 | 20.0 |
| Acute coronary syndrome | 18.7 | 19.8 | 19.4 | 18.4 | 17.9 | 17.2 |
| Peptic ulcer, gastrointestinal hemorrhage | 15.5 | 15.0 | 15.4 | 15.5 | 15.9 | 16.1 |
| Depression | 13.1 | 11.3 | 12.5 | 13.1 | 14.0 | 15.8 |
| Decubitus ulcer or chronic skin ulcer | 12.8 | 11.5 | 12.0 | 13.2 | 13.7 | 13.9 |
| Fibrosis of lung and other chronic lung disorders | 12.4 | 11.9 | 12.1 | 12.8 | 12.4 | 12.7 |
| History of CABG | 11.2 | 11.9 | 11.3 | 11.5 | 10.8 | 10.0 |
| Stroke | 10.4 | 10.1 | 10.5 | 10.3 | 10.0 | 10.3 |
| Other psychiatric disorders | 10.0 | 9.0 | 9.5 | 9.9 | 10.6 | 12.1 |
| Drug/alcohol abuse / dependence / psychosis | 9.1 | 10.4 | 9.6 | 8.8 | 8.3 | 7.3 |
| Asthma | 8.8 | 9.6 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.0 |
| Major psychiatric disorders | 8.7 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 8.6 | 9.4 | 10.5 |
| Liver and biliary disease | 8.4 | 8.9 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 8.0 | 7.7 |
| Paralysis | 6.8 | 6.9 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 6.8 |
| Protein-calorie malnutrition | 5.9 | 6.4 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 4.7 |
| End-stage renal disease or dialysis | 3.8 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 2.3 |
| Severe hematological disorders | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Nephritis | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| Metastatic cancer and acute leukemia | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
Abbreviations: CABG, coronary artery bypass graft surgery
p<0.0001 for all comparisons across quintiles using ANOVA for continuous variables and chi-square test for categorical variables