Impact of the insurance type of head and neck cancer patients on their hospitalization utilization patterns

作者：Avni Gupta, Stephen T. Sonis, Eric B. Schneider, Alessandro Villa · 发表于：Cancer · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.1002/cncr.31095 · 被引用次数：34 · 研究领域：Geriatric Care and Nursing Homes、Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues、Economic and Financial Impacts of Cancer

BACKGROUND: Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients with Medicaid, Medicare, or no insurance show poor outcomes in comparison with privately insured patients. It was hypothesized that nonprivate insurance coverage biases the selection of the treatment site to favor hospitals that are not associated with optimum treatment outcomes. This study assessed the relation between the insurance type of HNC patients and the hospital type for inpatient care. METHODS: Adult HNC patients were identified from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2012 and 2013). The primary exposure was the insurance provider type. The outcome was the hospital type, which was classified by the hospital's ownership and its location and teaching status. Multivariate multinomial logistic regression models were constructed to control for the patient's age, sex, race, income, mortality risk, and geographic location. The analysis was weighted and was adjusted for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: In all, 37,466 HNC patients representing 187,330 patients nationally were identified. After adjustments for age, sex, race, income, and mortality risk, in comparison with privately insured patients, Medicaid, Medicare, and uninsured patients demonstrated 1.14 to 2.29 increased odds of undergoing treatment at rural, urban nonteaching, private investor-owned, or government (nonfederal) hospitals (P < .05). This trend remained apparent even after adjustments for the geographic location. CONCLUSIONS: Uninsured patients or patients insur...