Comparing uninsured and privately insured hospital patients: admission severity, health outcomes and resource use.
This paper compares uninsured hospital patients with privately insured patients in terms of severity of illness on admission, emergency department use, leaving the hospital against medical advice, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality and morbidity rates. This cross-sectional study includes 29,237 admissions to 100 US hospitals in 1993 and 1994. We found that uninsured patients are sicker, indicating that hospitals should expect uninsured patients to have increased service needs. Our results indicate that the uninsured exhibit higher likelihood of leaving against medical advice, shorter lengths of stay and poorer health outcomes suggest that the uninsured may not be receiving necessary care. Further studies are needed.
Bradbury
R C
RC
Graduate School of Management, Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA. rbradbury@clarku.edu
Golec
J H
JH
Steen
P M
PM
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004194:Disease / Q000145:classification; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000191:economics*; D006302:Health Services Research; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007350:Insurance, Hospitalization; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology