Race and Insurance Impact on Hospital Admission From the Emergency Department for Patients Diagnosed With Heart Failure.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to analyze if patient race and the presence of insurance predict the odds of admission from the emergency department (ED) for patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF).

BACKGROUND

Excessive hospital readmissions for patients with CHF are considered a quality-of-care issue. Previous studies have not considered race and insurance in conjunction with quality measures in predicting hospital admission from the ED for these patients.

METHODS

A secondary data analysis was conducted from cross-sectional archival data from the 2015 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey using cross-tabulations with χ followed by multiple logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Race and the presence of insurance were not significant in predicting the odds of admission from the ED for patients with CHF.

CONCLUSIONS

Being seen in the ED within the last 72 hours and seen by provider types consulting physician and nurse practitioner were significant (P ≤ .05) in predicting the odds of admission related to a diagnosis of CHF.