Table 2.

Analysis of GEE Parameter Estimates for Predictors of Hospital Admission Rates for COPD and Asthma in RHCs (N = 2,910 RHC Years)

Variable	Estimate	Standard Error	95 % Confidence		Z	P- value
			Lower	Upper
Contextual
ACA Period Effect	0.096	0.008	0.081	0.111	12.76	<.0001
Rurality
Remote and    Isolated Rural    Area	−0.028	0.020	−0.067	0.011	−1.42	0.1570
Small Rural Area	−0.016	0.020	−0.055	0.024	−0.77	0.4392
Large Rural Area	−0.028	0.019	−0.064	0.009	−1.49	0.1355
Ecological
State
Alabama	0.037	0.014	0.010	0.064	2.72	0.0066
Florida	0.039	0.024	−0.007	0.085	1.67	0.0940
Georgia	0.039	0.014	0.012	0.065	2.86	0.0043
Kentucky	0.080	0.021	0.038	0.122	3.74	0.0002
North Carolina	0.030	0.015	0.0004	0.059	1.99	0.0471
South Carolina	0.061	0.014	0.033	0.088	4.31	<.0001
Tennessee	0.045	0.014	0.018	0.072	3.32	0.0009
Females in A    County	−0.034	0.014	−0.060	−0.008	−2.53	0.0116
African Americans    in A County	−0.057	0.028	−0.111	−0.002	−2.03	0.0419
Older Adults in a    County	0.034	0.019	−0.002	0.071	1.86	0.0628
Poverty Population    in A County	0.103	0.020	0.064	0.142	5.16	<.0001
% Dually Eligible	0.115	0.023	0.070	0.160	4.99	<.0001
Organizational
Years in operation	−0.028	0.013	−0.053	−0.003	−2.22	0.0267
Number of Patients   Treated	0.086	0.022	0.042	0.130	3.83	0.0001
% White Patients	0.733	0.027	0.679	0.786	26.97	<.0001
% Female Patients	−0.148	0.020	−0.187	−0.109	−7.41	<.0001
%Other Users	0.119	0.015	0.090	0.148	8.15	<.0001

Notes: R-squared: 0.663.

QIC = 2943.05 and QICu = 2931.00.

^*Z- statistics greater or equal to ∣ 1.96 ∣ are statistically significant at 0.05 level.