Intensive Care in Critical Access Hospitals

CONTEXT: Although critical access hospitals (CAHs) have limitations on number of acute care beds and average length of stay, some of them provide intensive care unit (ICU) services. PURPOSE: To describe the facilities, equipment, and staffing used by CAHs for intensive care, the types of patients receiving ICU care, and the perceived impact of closing the ICU on CAH staff and the local community. METHODS: A semistructured interview of directors of nursing at CAHs that provide intensive care services. RESULTS: Two thirds of CAHs that provide intensive care do so in a distinct unit. Most have continuous or computerized electrocardiography and ventilators. Other ICU equipment common in larger hospitals was reported less frequently. Nurse:patient ratio ranged from 1:1 to 1:3, and some or all nursing staff have advanced cardiac life support certification. Most CAHs admit patients to the ICU daily or weekly, primarily treating cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, endocrine, and drug- or alcohol-related conditions. ICUs are also used for postsurgical recovery. Respondents felt that closure of the ICU would be burdensome to patients and families, result in lost revenue, negatively impact staff, and affect the community's perception of the hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Intensive care services provided by CAHs fall along a continuum, ranging from care in a unit that resembles a scaled-down version of ICUs in larger hospitals to care in closely monitored medical-surgical beds. Nurse to patient ratio, not technology, is arguably the defining characteristic of intensive care in CAHs. Respondents believe these services to be important to the well-being of the hospital and of the community.     

Utilization of hospital services among older rural persons: a comparison of critical access hospitals and community hospitals

Critical access hospitals (CAHs) are intended to improve the accessibility of local emergency and short-term inpatient services, but limited research has evaluated their effects on hospital service utilization. This article asks whether the utilization of hospital and emergency room services differs between older persons residing in rural areas with a CAH versus a community hospital. Information about the utilization of hospital and emergency room services as well as demographic, health insurance, and health status factors were abstracted from a large population-based survey of community-dwelling elders (age 65 and older) residing in West Texas. The frequencies of hospital inpatient and emergency department admission do not differ between older persons who reside in counties with a CAH and a community hospital. These findings support the broad goals of the program and illustrate how Medicare can effectively support healthcare systems under fiscal stress.     

Patient Bypass Behavior and Critical Access Hospitals: Implications for Patient Retention

PURPOSE: To assess the extent of bypass for inpatient care among patients living in Critical Access Hospital (CAH) service areas, and to determine factors associated with bypass, the reasons for bypass, and what CAHs can do to retain patients locally. METHODS: Six hundred and forty-seven subjects, aged 18 years and older, who had been admitted to a hospital for inpatient care in the past 12 months and lived within 15-20 miles of 25 randomly selected CAHs were surveyed by phone during the period from early February through late July 2005. Survey questions included demographic characteristics, general health status, travel time/distance to health care, questions on satisfaction with local health services, bypass behavior, and solicited suggestions on how local hospitals could retain patients locally. FINDINGS: About 60% of surveyed patients bypassed their local CAHs for inpatient care including 16% who were referred to another facility by the local CAH/health care providers and would use the local hospital if needed services were available. Bypass rates ranged from 16% to 70% across the sampled CAHs. Factors associated with bypass included age, income, satisfaction with the local hospital, and traveling distance/time. Lack of specialty care, limited services, and the quality/reputation of local services/doctors were most frequently mentioned as reasons why patients bypass local CAHs. CONCLUSIONS: The bypass rate for sampled CAHs is considerably higher than the 20%-50% bypass rates documented in the literature for all hospitals in general using discharge/administrative data. The sizeable variation in bypass rates across CAHs suggests that the appropriate response/fix should come from the facility/community levels.     

Impact of Conversion to Critical Access Hospital Status for Oklahoma''s Rural Hospitals

CONTEXT: The Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program established a new hospital category, the Critical Access Hospital, designed to provide financial stability to small rural hospitals that were losing money after changes in the Prospective Payment System implemented by Medicare. PURPOSE: This article describes the impact of conversion to Critical Access Hospital (CAH) status for 15 small rural hospitals in Oklahoma. Objectives of the study were to identify how conversion to CAH affected hospital utilization and finances for the first year after conversion. METHODS: A telephone survey was used to collect information from hospital administrators. Fifteen of 16 eligible hospitals participated in the study. FINDINGS: In general, services and patient census declined slightly with conversion to CAH. All 15 hospitals had reported losses prior to conversion, totaling $6,985,033. Ten hospitals reported losses after conversion. After converting to CAH status, the hospitals reported total losses of $3,094,547. The hospitals had a net change of $4,293,040. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the 15 study hospitals greatly improved their financial situation in the first year after conversion to CAH status, but in aggregate still operated at a loss.     

Impact of Critical Access Hospital Conversion on Beneficiary Liability

ABSTRACT: Context: While the Medicare Critical Access Hospital (CAH) program has improved the financial viability of small rural hospitals and enhanced access to care in rural communities, the program puts beneficiaries at risk for paying a larger share of the cost of services covered under the Medicare part B benefit. Purpose: This paper examines the impact of hospital conversion to CAH status on beneficiary out‐of‐pocket coinsurance payments for hospital outpatient services. Methods: The study is based on a retrospective observational design using administrative data from Medicare hospital cost reports and fee‐for‐service beneficiary claims from 1999 to 2003. The study compares changes in beneficiary co‐payments before versus after CAH conversion with payment trends among small rural non‐converting hospitals over the same period. Findings: Conversion to CAH status is associated with an increase in beneficiary coinsurance payments per outpatient visit of $17.19, equivalent to 34% of the sample average. However, CAH designation had no significant effect on the share of outpatient costs paid by the beneficiary. Most of the increase in beneficiary liability associated with conversion is attributable to the provision of more services per outpatient visit. Conclusions: While this and other studies show that conversion to CAH status results in more intensive outpatient care, CAH conversion does not appear to inadvertently create financial barriers to accessing ambulatory services in remote rural communities by forcing beneficiaries to pay a higher share of their Medicare part B costs.     

Impact of Local Resources on Hospitalization Patterns of Medicare Beneficiaries and Propensity to Travel Outside Local Markets

Purpose: To examine how local health care resources impact travel patterns of patients age 65 and older across the rural urban continuum.
Methods: Information on inpatient hospital discharges was drawn from complete 2004 hospital discharge files from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) State Inpatient Databases (SID) for New York, California, and Florida, and the 2003 hospital discharge file for Pennsylvania. The study population was Medicare patients with admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions. Analysis was at the patient-level, and area contextual variables were developed at the Primary Care Service Area (PCSA) level. Local resources considered included inpatient supply, provider supply, supply of international medical graduates, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) in the patient's PCSA.
Findings: Findings generally confirmed enhanced retention of the elderly in local markets with greater availability of community resources, although we observed considerable heterogeneity across states. Community resource variables such as median household income or inpatient hospital capacity were stronger and more consistent predictors along the urban rural continuum than any of the provider or CAH variables. Only in California and New York did we see significant effects for provider supply or CAH, but they were robust across the 2 states and models of travel propensity, always reducing the travel propensity.
Conclusions: Findings support policies aimed at augmenting supplies of critical access hospitals in rural communities, and increasing primary care physicians and hospital resources in both rural and urban communities.     

How Does Degree of Rurality Impact the Provision of Surgical Services at Rural Hospitals?

ABSTRACT:  Context: Rural residents frequently have decreased access to surgical services. Consequences of this situation include increased travel time and financial costs for patients. There are also economic implications for hospitals as they may lose revenue when patients leave the area in order to obtain surgical services. Rural communities vary in size and distance from more populated centers. Since rural hospitals are located in varying types of rural communities, they likely differ with regard to the provision of surgical care. Purpose: To describe the differences between hospitals located in smaller versus larger rural areas regarding the provision of surgical care. Methods: A 12-item survey instrument based on one previously used in a pilot study was mailed to a national random sample of rural hospital administrators (n = 233). Rural location was determined using rural-urban commuting area codes. Findings: One hundred and eleven surveys were received, yielding a 48% response rate. Hospitals in larger rural areas had an average of 9 surgeons compared to 1 at hospitals in smaller rural areas. More administrators at hospitals located in larger rural areas viewed the ability to provide surgical care as very important to the financial viability of their hospital. Conclusions: Among rural hospitals located in communities of varying sizes there are significant differences in how surgical services are delivered and the financial importance of providing surgical care. Administrators at hospitals located in larger rural areas, more than in smaller ones, report financial reliance on their ability to offer surgical care and have significantly more resources available to do so.     

Are the CMS Hospital Outpatient Quality Measures Relevant for Rural Hospitals?

Context: Quality measures focused on outpatient settings are of increasing interest to policy makers, but little research has been conducted on hospital outpatient quality measures, especially in rural settings. Purpose: To evaluate the relevance of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) outpatient quality measures for rural hospitals, including Critical Access Hospitals. Methods: Researchers analyzed Medicare hospital outpatient claims and Hospital Compare outpatient quality measure data for rural hospitals to assess the volume of conditions addressed by the measures in rural hospitals. A literature review and information from national quality organizations were used to assess the external and internal usefulness of the measures for rural hospitals. A panel of rural hospital quality experts reviewed the measures and provided additional input about their usefulness and data collection issues in rural hospitals. Results: The rural relevant CMS outpatient measures include most of the Emergency Department (ED) measures. The outpatient surgical measures are relevant for the majority of rural hospitals providing outpatient surgery. Several measures were not selected as relevant for rural hospitals, including the outpatient imaging and condition‐specific measures. Conclusions: To increase sample sizes for smaller rural hospitals, CMS could combine data for similar inpatient and outpatient measures, use composite measures by condition, or use a longer time period to calculate measures. A menu of outpatient measures would allow smaller rural hospitals to choose relevant measures depending on the outpatient services they provide. Global measures and care coordination measures would be useful for quality improvement and have sufficient sample size to allow reliable measurement in smaller rural hospitals.     

Device-associated, device-day infection rates in an Israeli adult general intensive care unit

Surveillance is an essential element of hospital infection control programs. Previous studies have shown that interhospital comparison of intensive care unit (ICU) nosocomial infections (NI) may be best made by comparing ICU-type-specific, device-associated infection rates and that these adjusted rates vary by ICU type. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether significant structural improvements introduced in an adult general ICU were associated with changes in the NI rates in this unit. In addition, we compared these rates with those of ICUs reported by the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) System of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention. During a 12-month period 337 patients were surveyed. There were 20 ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAP)/1000 ventilator (VEN)-days, 12 bloodstream infections (BSI)/1000 central vascular catheter (CVC)-days and 14 urinary tract infection (UTI)/1000 indwelling urinary catheter (IUC)-days. Structural changes and reduction in device utilization ratios were not followed by change in NI rates in this unit. VAP and BSI rates were comparable to those reported for neurosurgical and burn ICUs, respectively, in the NNIS System, despite a much higher device utilization ratios. The present study provides specific surveillance data for further interhospital comparison with similar types of ICUs.     

Economic Impact of the Critical Access Hospital Program on Kentucky's Communities

Context: In 1997, the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program created the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Program as a response to the financial distress of rural hospitals. It was believed that this program would reduce the rate of rural hospital closures and improve access to health care services in rural communities. Objective: The objective of this paper is to analyze the economic impact of the CAH Program on Kentucky's communities. Methods: Both an economic input‐output model and a quasi‐experimental control group method are used in this research paper. While the analysis using the input‐output model uses data from the year 2006, the analysis using the quasi‐experimental control group method uses data from 1989 to 2006. Conclusion: The results indicate that the rural counties where a CAH was adopted did appear to benefit in economic terms relative to those that did not have a CAH.     

Implementing swing-bed services in small rural hospitals.

Since 1983, twenty-six small rural hospitals in five states have been developing models of the "swing-bed" concept as part of a coordinated national demonstration project. Based on the experiences of these hospitals, swing-bed programs use excess hospital capacity to provide short-term, post-acute care in rural communities where there are nursing home shortages, and, thus, help avoid the need for new nursing home construction. The availability of swing-bed services in rural hospitals has allowed the elderly patient to receive a full-range of long-term care services within the community to avoid transfer to a nursing home outside the community. Introduction of services also has improved patient care for all hospitalized elderly. Finally, the revenue from the swing-bed services has helped to stabilize small, rural hospitals faced with declining utilization. The demonstration has provided evidence that the swing-bed program has the potential to deliver a needed service to the rural elderly while contributing to the preservation of the small, rural hospital as a valuable community resource.     

Implementing EACHs (essential access community hospitals) and RPCHs (rural primary care hospitals) on a statewide basis: a preliminary analysis.

Declining hospital utilization has created excess hospital capacity in rural areas, has depressed occupancy rates, and threatens the financial viability of rural hospitals. Access to hospital care could be reduced and rural economies damaged if rural hospitals close. The federal Essential Access Community Hospital (EACH) demonstration program is an attempt to address these issues by establishing regional hospital networks. A preliminary analysis of the impact of state-wide implementation of the EACH program in Iowa suggests that about 60% of rural hospital beds and about 28% of all hospital beds would be eliminated. The EACH program could well prove difficult to implement because of the need to select hospitals for reduced services.     

Interhospital transfers of patients with surgical emergencies: areas for improvement

Objective: To review mortality associated with interhospital transfers of patients with surgical emergencies from rural and peripheral metropolitan areas. Design: A retrospective case note review. Setting: All hospitals within an area health service including metropolitan and rural hospitals. Subjects: All patients with a surgical emergency who died in hospital after interhospital transfer within an area health service. Main outcome measures: Factors associated with death and interhospital transfer. Results: In total, 22 patients were identified. The mean age was 77 years. Thirty‐six per cent of patients were assessed by a surgeon prior to transfer. The mean time taken for transfer was five hours. Ten patients were physiologically unstable prior to transfer. No medical escort accompanied these patients. Four patients deteriorated during the transport process. Seventy‐three per cent of patients arrived out of normal working hours. Fifty per cent of patients required an operation within 24 hours of arrival. All of these patients had significant medical co‐morbidities. Seventy‐two per cent of these operations were performed out of hours as an emergency case. Twenty‐three per cent did not receive any operative intervention or intensive care admission at the tertiary referral centre. Forty‐one per cent of deaths were related to peritonitis and intra‐abdominal soiling. Conclusions: Hospital systemic issues associated with mortality included extensive time delays in transfers, an inadequate transport process and frequent out‐of‐hours emergency operations. Patient features related to mortality included advanced age, significant medical co‐morbidity and surgical pathology with a poor prognosis. Improvements concerning interhospital transfers of patients should address both systemic and patient issues.     

Hospital Mergers and Closures: Survival of Rural Hospitals

There are two major models to save financially failing rural hospitals: (1) expanding through an affiliation or merger with other hospitals to increase the utilization and diversity of services, or (2) downsizing by employing the limited-service model and providing only emergency and primary care service with limited acute care. This study investigates hospital mergers and closures from 1990 to 1992 using the American Hospital Association's (AHA's) data from the Annual Survey of U.S. Hospitals. The presence of potential scale and scope economies among merging and closing hospitals prior to the merger or closure suggests that rural hospitals are operating at a size level that has great potential for achieving scope and scale efficiencies through mergers.     

Risk-adjusted In-hospital Death Rates for Peer Hospitals in Rural and Urban Regions

Abstract: The purpose of this research project was to compare inpatient mortality rates for rural hospitals with mortality rates of urban hospitals of given sizes and ranges of service. Statistical adjustments for risk were made in the probability of death during hospitalization for 43,000 patients across 166 hospitals by age, gender, principal diagnosis, principal surgical procedure, characteristics of the secondary diagnoses, and whether or not cancer was a seconday diagnosis. Eighty-three small hospitals that had a relatively unspecialized range of services constituted the study group. Patient characteristics of this study group were moderately representative of the national population. A standardized score was calculated for each hospital using a formula based on the actual hospital death rate and the death rate expected for a given hospital with patients of the same demographic and medical characteristics. Patients admitted to hospitals in nonmetropolitan areas had a mortality rate of 0.41 percent compared with a mortality rate of 0.66 percent in peer hospitals in metropolitan areas. After mortality rates were risk-adjusted and converted to z scores, nonmetropolitan areas had an average z of +0.16, and metropolitan areas had an average z of -0.25, where positive z scores reflect a lower-than-average adjusted mortality rate. The metropolitan-nonmetropolitan (urban-rural) difference was not statistically significant, but it is meaningful in that rural hospitals tended to have a lower adjusted mortality rate than urban hospitals of the same size and type, indicating that rural hospitals had the same or lower adjusted mortality rates. The possibility of urban hospitals having riskier patients was minimized but could not be definitively ruled out. Taken together with other studies, the data are consistent with the view that small rural hospitals generally make appropriate transfer decisions for severely ill patients and provide quality care for retained patients .     

Practical and Policy Implications of Using Different Rural-Urban Classification Systems: A Case Study of Inpatient Service Utilization Among Veterans Administration Users

ABSTRACT:  Context: Several classification systems exist for defining rural areas, which may lead to different interpretations of rural health services data. Purpose: To compare rural classification systems on their implications for estimating Veterans Administration (VA) utilization. Methods: Using 7 classification systems, we counted VA health care enrollees who lived in each category, and number admitted to VA hospitals or non-VA hospitals under Medicare. For dual VA-Medicare enrollees over age 65, we compared VA and private sector hospitalizations on numbers of admissions and bed-days of care. We compared VA enrollees' relative proportions across rural to urban categories for each classification system and evaluated discordance between systems at the veterans-integrated service networks (VISN) level. Findings: Enrollment and inpatient utilization counts for rural veterans vary considerably from one classification system to another, though the systems generally agree that admission rates, length of stay, and reliance on the VA for care are lower for rural veterans. Among older dual VA and Medicare enrollees, rural residents rely on non-VA facilities more, though this effect also varies widely depending on the classification scheme. VISNs vary greatly in the proportions of patients who are rural residents, and in the degree to which classification systems are discordant in designating patients as rural. Conclusions: Decisions about allocating VA health care resources to target "rural" patients may be affected greatly by the rural classification system chosen, and the impact of this choice will affect some hospital networks much more than others.     

Patterns of health service utilization and perceptions of needs and services in rural Orissa

Despite emphasis on strengthening local health care provision, concern remains regarding the rates of utilization of state-provided services within Orissa. The reported study examined patterns of service utilization across the rural population of four districts of Orissa, with special reference to perceptions of the availability and quality of state services at the primary care level. Within the selected districts, 219 interviews were conducted across 66 villages. Households reported utilizing a wide range of health care providers, although hospitals constituted the most frequently--and primary health care centres (PHCs) the least frequently--accessed services. Private practitioners (qualified and unqualified) represented a major sector of provision. This included high rates of access by scheduled tribes and castes (running at approximately twice the rate of access to both local and PHC provision). Key factors guiding patterns of utilization were reputation of the provider, cost and physical accessibility. Local health provision through assistant nurse midwives and male health workers was generally perceived of poor quality, with the lowest rates of resolution of health problems of all service providers. The location of a sub-centre base for assistant nurse midwives within a village had no demonstrable impact on access to services. Acknowledging constraints on broader generalization, the implications of the findings for informing health policy and programming within Orissa are noted. This includes support for current efforts to strengthen the capacity of PHC and sub-centre level provision within the state, and acknowledgement of the potentially growing role of effectively regulated private provision in meeting the needs of the rural poor.     

Effect of Critical Access Hospital Conversion on Patient Safety

Background. The Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act allowed hospitals meeting certain criteria to convert to critical access hospitals (CAH) and changed their Medicare reimbursement mechanism from prospective payment system (PPS) to cost-based.
Objective. To examine the impact of CAH conversion on hospital patient safety.
Data Source. Secondary data on hospital patient safety indicators (PSIs), hospital CAH status, patient case-mix, and market variables, for 89 Iowa rural hospitals during 1997–2004.
Study Design. We employed quasi-experimental designs that use both control groups and pretests. The hospital-year was the unit of analysis. We used generalized estimating equations logit and random-effects Tobit models to assess the effects of CAH conversion on hospital patient safety. The models were adjusted for patient case-mix and market variables. Sensitivity analyses, which varied by sample and statistical model, were used to examine the robustness of our findings.
Data Extraction Methods. PSIs were computed from Iowa State Inpatient Databases (SIDs) using Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality indicators software. Hospital CAH status was extracted from Iowa Hospital Association. Patient case-mix variables were extracted from Iowa SIDs. Market variables came from Area Resource File (ARF).
Principal Findings. CAH conversion in Iowa rural hospitals was associated with better performance of risk-adjusted rates of iatrogenic pneumothorax, selected infections due to medical care, accidental puncture or laceration, and composite score of four PSIs, but had no significant impact on the observed rates of death in low-mortality diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), foreign body left during procedure, risk-adjusted rate of decubitus ulcer, or composite score of six PSIs.
Conclusion. CAH conversion is associated with enhanced performance of certain PSIs.