Children without insurance 4 times more likely to be transferred out of ERs than insured children

Children seen in an emergency department who are uninsured, or are covered under Medicaid, are more likely to be transferred to another facility than children with private insurance, according to study results presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2016 National Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco on Oct. 24.

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Anuja Vaidya

The study included data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2012 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample. Researchers analyzed two groups of children — those with injuries and those without. They then analyzed 240,620 pediatric ER visits among the non-injured children group.

The study found that children who were uninsured or identified as self-paying had almost four times the odds of being transferred to another facility — and not admitted to same hospital as the ER they are being seen in — as compared to patients with private insurance.

When analyzing 9,461 ER visits among the injured children group, researchers found patients had 1.25 times the odds of being transferred to another facility for admission compared to patients with private insurance.

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