Table 1.
Characteristics of Cohorts used to Calculate Hospitals’ Cancer and Non-Cancer End-of-life Intensity Measures, Pennsylvania 2001–2008
| High probability of dying |
Decedents | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer | CHF/COPD | P-value | Cancer | CHF/COPD | P-value | |
| Admissions | 53,930 | 153,593 | 35,129 | 85,243 | ||
| Unique patients | 47,881 | 125,163 | - | - | ||
| Age, mean (SD) | 71.8 (13.4) | 79.7 (10.7) | <0.001 | 69.7 (14.1) | 78.6 (11.2) | <0.001 |
| Female, N (%) | 25,871 (48) | 81,891 (53) | <0.001 | 16,933 (48) | 44,779 (53) | <0.001 |
| Race/ethnicity, N (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| White | 45,517 (84) | 134,186 (87) | 29,269 (83) | 74,820 (88) | ||
| Black | 5,665 (11) | 12,737 (8.3) | 3,905 (11) | 6,660 (7.8) | ||
| Hispanic | 801 (1.5) | 1,712 (1.1) | 462 (1.3) | 890 (1) | ||
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 272 (.5) | 338 (.22) | 196 (.56) | 176 (.21) | ||
| Other/unknown | 1,675 (3.1) | 4,620 (3) | 1,297 (3.7) | 2,697 (3.2) | ||
| Insurance, N (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| Medicare only | 13,462 (25) | 41,455 (27) | 8,213 (23) | 23,201 (27) | ||
| Medicare and Medicaid | 3,945 (7.3) | 24,034 (16) | 2,255 (6.4) | 11,379 (13) | ||
| Medicare and commercial | 22,338 (41) | 75,657 (49) | 13,077 (37) | 42,145 (49) | ||
| Medicaid only | 3,368 (6.2) | 4,969 (3.2) | 2,574 (7.3) | 3,015 (3.5) | ||
| Commercial only | 10,498 (19) | 6,981 (4.5) | 8,498 (24) | 4,915 (5.8) | ||
| Uninsured | 295 (.55) | 447 (.29) | 483 (1.4) | 531 (.62) | ||
| Admission type, N (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| Emergent | 37,960 (70) | 119,316 (78) | 22,666 (65) | 62,749 (74) | ||
| Urgent | 12,717 (24) | 29,497 (19) | 8,440 (24) | 17,535 (21) | ||
| Elective | 3,215 (6) | 4,644 (3) | 3,981 (11) | 4,826 (5.7) | ||
| PPD* mean (SD) | 327 (.189) | 312 (.176) | <0.001 | 259 (.251) | 225 (.231) | <0.001 |
| Charlson index, mean (SD) | 4.57 (3.16) | 2.35 (1.29) | <0.001 | 4.32 (3.14) | 2.22 (1.28) | <0.001 |
| Treatments received | ||||||
| ICU admission, N (%) | 21,705 (40) | 101,865 (66) | <0.001 | 16,045 (46) | 55,520 (65) | <0.001 |
| ICU LOS†| admission, mean (SD) | 7.68 (7.91) | 9.26 (9.97) | <0.001 | 8.44 (11.2) | 8.89 (11.6) | <0.001 |
| Mechanical ventilation, N (%) | 6,853 (13) | 40,116 (26) | <0.001 | 8,770 (25) | 30,341 (36) | <0.001 |
| Hemodialysis, N (%) | 1,379 (2.6) | 9,238 (6) | <0.001 | 1,002 (2.9) | 5,551 (6.5) | <0.001 |
| Gastrostomy tube, N (%) | 1,217 (2.3) | 5,324 (3.5) | <0.001 | 727 (2.1) | 2,299 (2.7) | <0.001 |
| Tracheostomy, N (%) | 637 (1.2) | 4,529 (2.9) | <0.001 | 689 (2) | 2,676 (3.1) | <0.001 |
| Cumulative mortality, N (%) | ||||||
| At hospital discharge | 14,842 (28) | 38,144 (25) | <0.001 | - | - | - |
| At 30 days post-admission | 28,313 (52) | 59,098 (38) | <0.001 | - | - | - |
| At 6-months post-admission | 41,862 (78) | 91,946 (60) | <0.001 | - | - | - |
*
PPD indicates Predicted Probability of Death on admission; HPD admission include only admissions with non-missing HPD. 11% of the decedent sample is missing PPD; 21% in the cancer group, 7% in the CHF/COPD group.
†
LOS indicates Length of Stay