title: Disparities in Patterns of Health Care Travel Among Inpatients Diagnosed With Congestive Heart Failure, Florida, 2011.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a major public health problem in the United States and is a leading cause of hospitalization in the elderly population. Understanding the health care travel patterns of CHF patients and their underlying cause is important to balance the supply and demand for local hospital resources. This article explores the nonclinical factors that prompt CHF patients to seek distant instead of local hospitalization.
  
  
  METHODS
  Local hospitalization was defined as inpatients staying within hospital service areas, and distant hospitalization was defined as inpatients traveling outside hospital service areas, based on individual hospital discharge data in 2011 generated by a Dartmouth-Swiss hybrid approach. Multiple logistic and linear regression models were used to compare the travel patterns of different groups of inpatients in Florida.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Black patients, no-charge patients, patients living in large metropolitan areas, and patients with a low socioeconomic status were more likely to seek local hospitalization than were white patients, those who were privately insured, those who lived in rural areas, and those with a high socioeconomic status, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings indicate that different populations diagnosed with CHF had different travel patterns for hospitalization. Changes or disruptions in local hospital supply could differentially affect different groups in a population. Policy makers could target efforts to CHF patients who are less likely to travel to seek treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214. Telephone: 716-829-5354. Email: jiapengff@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: Imam M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Xierali
mesh_terms: D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016507:Cardiology Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002391:Catchment Area, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012923:Social Class; D014195:Travel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D016270:United States Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014600:Utilization Review; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American