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Hospitalizations of Rural Children for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions

Funder: Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Research center: Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
Phone: 612.624.8618
Lead researcher: Ira Moscovice, PhD
Contacts: Michelle Casey, MS, 612.623.8316, mcasey@umn.edu
Alana Knudson, PhD, 701.777.4205, aknudson@medicine.nodak.edu
Project funded: September 2005
Project completed:February 2007
Topics: Children
Chronic diseases and conditions

The purpose of this project is to:

  • Determine the extent to which rural children are hospitalized for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC); and
  • Analyze state differences and the relationship between characteristics of the local health care system and population, including poverty, uninsurance, and physician supply, and ACSC admissions for rural children.

HCUP State Inpatient Databases (SID) from six states, data from the Area Resource File and the AHRQ Pediatric Quality Indicators will be used to examine ACSC admission rates for rural children.

Publications

  • Ambulatory Care Sensitive Condition Hospitalizations Among Rural Children
    Author(s): Michelle Casey, Alana Knudson, Michele Burlew, Gestur Davidson
    Report Number: Working Paper No. 4
    Date: 02 / 2007
    Ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) are conditions for which inpatient hospital admissions could potentially be avoided through better outpatient care. Using hospital inpatient discharge data from six states, this study examined the relationships between children's inpatient hospitalizations for ACSCs, rural residence, poverty, health insurance, and physician supply. Admission rates for five conditions were examined: asthma, diabetes short-term complications, gastroenteritis, urinary tract infection and perforated appendix. Hospitalization rates for four of the five conditions are significantly higher for children living in rural areas than in urban areas. Condition-specific ACSC hospitalization rates for children also vary significantly across states, even after adjusting for rurality, poverty, uninsurance, and physician supply.
  • Ambulatory Care Sensitive Condition Hospitalizations Among Rural Children (Brief)
    Author(s): Michelle Casey, Alana Knudson, Michele Burlew, Gestur Davidson
    Report Number: Policy Brief
    Date: 06 / 2007
    Reports results from a study examining children's inpatient hospitalizations for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSCs), rural residence, poverty, health insurance, and physician supply. Admission rates for five conditions were examined: asthma, diabetes short-term complications, gastroenteritis, urinary tract infection and perforated appendix.