Table 1. Patient characteristics.
| All Patients | Safety-net Hospitals (≥44% low-SES patients) | High-SES Hospitals (<21% low-SES patients) | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| N = 129,247 | N = 13,540 | N = 48,721 | |
| Age (years) | 66 | 63 | 65 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Female | 48.3 | 46.5 | 48.9 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Race | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| White | 78.7 | 47.1 | 87.5 |
| Black | 10.6 | 28.5 | 5.6 |
| Other | 10.7 | 24.4 | 6.9 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Hispanic | 6.5 | 14.5 | 4.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Urgency | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| Elective | 72.9 | 51,4 | 78.8 |
| Urgent | 5.4 | 7.8 | 4.7 |
| emergency | 21.8 | 40.8 | 16.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Transfer status | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| Transfer from acute care hospital | 4.3 | 4.0 | 4.4 |
| Transfer in from other type of health facility | 0.5 | 1.1 | 0.3 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Admitted on weekend | 6.1 | 9.4 | 4.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Low-SES (Medicaid, Dual Eligible, or homeless) | 12.6 | 37.5 | 5.6 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Surgical Procedure | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| Hip replacement | 44.3 | 27.1 | 49.1 |
| Lobectomy | 6.7 | 5.6 | 7.0 |
| Endovascular AAA | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.1 |
| Open AAA¥ | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.8 |
| Colectomy | 29.3 | 42.8 | 25.6 |
| CABG | 15.7 | 20.0 | 14.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
| AHRQ Comorbidity Measures | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| Alcohol abuse | 1.5 | 2.5 | 1.2 |
| Deficiency anemia¥ | 11.9 | 11.4 | 12.0 |
| Rheumatoid arthritis/collagen vascular disease | 2.5 | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| Chronic blood loss anemia | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
| Congestive heart failure | 2.9 | 3.9 | 2.6 |
| Chronic pulmonary disease¥ | 16.1 | 15.7 | 16.3 |
| Coagulopathy | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.6 |
| Depression | 8.0 | 4.9 | 8.9 |
| Diabetes, uncomplicated | 17.2 | 22.8 | 15.6 |
| Diabetes with chronic complications¥ | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.8 |
| Drug abuse | 0.9 | 1.9 | 0.6 |
| Hypertension | 58.2 | 60.1 | 57.6 |
| Hypothyroidism | 10.5 | 6.7 | 11.5 |
| Liver disease | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| Lymphoma | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| Fluid and electrolyte disorders | 16.6 | 15.2 | 17.0 |
| Metastatic cancer | 6.4 | 7.1 | 6.2 |
| Other neurological disorders | 3.3 | 3.6 | 3.2 |
| Obesity | 10.3 | 7.8 | 11.0 |
| Paralysis | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 |
| Peripheral vascular disorder | 5.7 | 5.2 | 5.8 |
| Psychoses | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.3 |
| Pulmonary circulation disorder¥ | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| Renal failure | 5.3 | 6.8 | 4.9 |
| Solid tumor without metastasis | 1.6 | 2.1 | 1.4 |
| Peptic ulcer disease | 0.04 | 0.1 | 0.003 |
| Valvular disease | 4.4 | 1.8 | 5.1 |
| Weight loss | 2.6 | 4.3 | 2.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Number of comorbidities¥ | 2 | 2 | 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 30-day readmission | 6.9 | 8.9 | 6.3 |
All numbers are percentages unless otherwise stated.
All differences between low-SES and high-SES hospitals are significant (P <0.05) unless indicated (¥).
Hospital SES percentage used to define low-SES hospitals and high-SES hospitals is based on all inpatient admissions.