Pediatric hospital care is becoming increasingly limited in the U.S., according to a recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 34 million patient encounters at every acute care hospital in Massachusetts from 2004 to 2014.
Here are five study findings.
- The number of children transferred to another hospital for care increased by more than 36 percent in the state during the study period.
- About 20 percent of the state's 66 hospitals cared for more than half of their pediatric patients without transferring them.
- The likelihood of a hospital treating a pediatric patient without a transfer decreased by 65 percent during the ten-year period, while the likelihood of treating an adult without transfer dropped 11 percent.
- Pediatric emergency room visits and admissions dropped 3 percent and 15 percent, respectively, from 2004 to 2014. Pediatric transfers jumped 36 percent in the same time period.
- Researchers attribute the heightened transfer rate to the consolidation of care to regional centers.
"Pediatric hospital care is less available than it used to be, mostly because community hospitals are increasingly transferring children to larger centers," senior author Michael McManus, MD, PhD, a pediatrician and professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, told Reuters via email. "Transfer can greatly improve care for some conditions, but can delay and potentially worsen care for others."
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