Development and Evaluation of Pediatric Acute Care Hospital Referral Regions in Eight States.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To develop a set of pediatric acute care hospital referral regions for use in studying pediatric acute care delivery and test their utility relative to other regional systems.

Study design

We used state-level administrative databases capturing all pediatric acute care in 8 states to construct novel referral regions. We first constructed pediatric hospital service areas (PHSAs) based on 5 837 464 pediatric emergency department encounters. We then aggregated these PHSAs to pediatric hospital referral regions (PHRRs) based on 344 440 pediatric hospitalizations. Finally, we used 3 measures of spatial accuracy (localization index, market share index, and net patient flow) to compare this novel region system with the Dartmouth Atlas, designed originally to study adult sp

SUBMITTER: Joseph AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12007411 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature