Emergency Department Increased use of Observation Care for Elderly Medicare Patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Over the past decade, a growing number of older Medicare beneficiaries visit the Emergency Department (ED) and have been placed in observation care. We investigated and compared the prevalence and factors associated with patients age ≥ 65 years with Medicare insurance who are placed in the hospital, observation care, or discharged following an ED visit.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from a nationally representative 5% sample of Medicare patients age ≥ 65 years during the year 2013. We performed multiple generalized estimating equation (GEE) logistic regression analyses to assess the relationship between placement in a hospital vs. discharge, observation care vs. discharge, and observation care vs. admission.

Results

Of 537,455

SUBMITTER: Gabayan GZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5935261 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature