The research comes from Stanford University in California, where researchers examined data from more than 4,500 trauma patients 65 years old or less at 636 hospitals nationwide. They found non-trauma centers were less likely to transfer patients to trauma centers if those patients were insured through any source.
According to a physician trauma expert quoted in the report, this trend is problematic because it may indicate patients are not being transferred to trauma centers quickly enough, increasing their mortality risk. Trauma patients are 25 percent less likely to die at a trauma center than in an emergency department, according to the report.
Where in the care continuum the decision to admit or transfer a patient was being made was unclear, according to the report.
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