The American journal of medicine
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Multicenter Study
Hospital transfer of patients with acute myocardial infarction: the effects of age, race, and insurance type.
Many factors precipitate the transfer of patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction, including clinical status and the need for diagnostic testing and therapeutic interventions not available at the admitting hospital. The objectives of this study were to assess the frequency of transfer to another hospital and to determine whether nonmedical factors, such as age, sex, race, and insurance status, are associated with transfer. ⋯ Our findings suggest that nonmedical factors, including age, race, and insurance type, affect decisions regarding the transfer of patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction. As only a minority of the nation's hospitals offers a full range of cardiovascular diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, these findings reinforce ongoing concerns about disparities in access to health care services for some patients.