Is outpatient care associated with lower use of inpatient and emergency care? An analysis of persons with HIV disease.
OBJECTIVE
The authors use data from the AIDS Costs and Service Utilization Survey (ACSUS) to investigate the extent to which use of ambulatory medical care is associated with inpatient and emergency department use among HIV-infected persons.


METHODS
Parameter estimates were derived from simultaneous, multiequation models.


RESULTS
Higher use of ambulatory medical services is not significantly associated with lower probability of inpatient admissions or emergency department (ED) visits. For the subgroup of patients who received an AIDS diagnosis during the study period, however, the number of ambulatory visits had significant negative effects on hospitalizations and ED use.


CONCLUSIONS
Outpatient care may offset inpatient and ED services at particular points in the disease course.
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. lpezzin@mcw.edu
Liliana E
LE
Pezzin
John A
JA
Fleishman
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections; D006302:Health Services Research; D006304:Health Status; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D011336:Probability; D011897:Random Allocation; D014481:United States