Hospitalizations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) may be prevented if patients receive adequate and timely primary care; therefore, hospital expenditures associated with ACSCs could be unnecessary spending. Identifying and reducing such avoidable hospitalizations could help alleviate the financial burden on rural hospitals and communities. Most ACSC studies to date have focused on patient demographic or geographic comparisons. Little is known about the magnitude of and variation in ACSC-related hospital expenditures for people with different types of health insurance coverage and status. This study will document the national time-trend and regional variation of rural ACSC-related hospital expenditures by patient insurance coverage/status. In addition, the study will compare the pattern of difference in ACSC-related hospital expenditures for rural patients with different insurance coverage/status by patient demographic, economic, and hospital characteristics. Adopting the newly available methodology developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), we will use preventable quality indicators (PQIs) to identify ACSC-related hospitalizations from the 2000-2004 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) data. We will produce a policy brief and a manuscript to disseminate our research findings.

Publications

• Rural Hospital Charges Due to Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions in the United States, by Insurance Type, 2000 to 2004
  RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
  Date: 08/2011
  In this policy brief, we report findings from a study that used nationwide hospital inpatient discharge data to examine the trends and regional variations of rural hospital charges due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions in the United States, by insurance type, from 2000 to 2004.