Minimum Travel Distance Among Publicly Insured Infants with Severe Congenital Heart Disease: Potential Impact of In-state Restrictions.

ABSTRACT: Travel distance to surgical centers may be increased when coverage restrictions prevent children with congenital heart disease (CHD) from receiving care at out-of-state congenital heart surgery centers. We estimated the minimum travel distance to congenital heart surgery centers among publicly insured infants with time-sensitive CHD surgical needs, under two different scenarios: if they were and were not restricted to in-state centers. Using 2012 Medicaid Analytic eXtract data from 40 states, we identified 4598 infants with CHD that require surgery in the first year of life. We calculated the minimum travel distance between patients' homes and the nearest cardiac surgery center, assuming patients were and were not restricted to in-state centers. We used linear regression to identify demogr

SUBMITTER: Woo JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6851488 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature