Travel Time as an Indicator of Poor Access to Care in Surgical Emergencies.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Timely access to care is a key metric for health care systems and is particularly important in conditions that acutely worsen with delays in care, including surgical emergencies. However, the association between travel time to emergency care and risk for complex presentation is poorly understood.

Objective

To evaluate the impact of travel time on disease complexity at presentation among people with emergency general surgery conditions and to evaluate whether travel time was associated with clinical outcomes and measures of increased health resource utilization.

Design, setting, and participants

This retrospective cohort study used administrative statewide inpatient and emergency department databases with linkage across encounters, including nearly every inp

SUBMITTER: Clark NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11751744 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature