The association of trauma center closures with increased inpatient mortality for injured patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Trauma centers are an effective but costly element of the US health care infrastructure. Some Level I and II trauma centers regularly incur financial losses when these high fixed costs are coupled with high burdens of uncompensated care for disproportionately young and uninsured trauma patients. As a result, they are at risk of reducing their services or closing. The impact of these closures on patient outcomes, however, has not been previously assessed.

Methods

We performed a retrospective study of all adult patient visits for injuries at Level I and II, nonfederal trauma centers in California between 1999 and 2009. Within this population, we compared the in-hospital mortality of patients whose drive time to their nearest trauma center increased as the result of

SUBMITTER: Hsia RY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4217699 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature