American heart journal
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American heart journal · Apr 1999
Variations in the use of cardiac procedures in the Veterans Health Administration.
Considerable variability exists in the use of cardiac procedures for patients with heart disease. One cause for this variability is the availability of local facilities to perform these procedures. This study was initiated to identify health system features that are related to rates of catheterization, percutaneous coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass graft surgery in the Veterans Affairs health care system in which structured referral systems are intended to compensate for variation in local resource availability. ⋯ Geographic location and the complexity of the local Veterans Affairs hospital are important determinants of the use of cardiac procedures in the Veterans Affairs health care system, even though referral networks are intended to correct for local differences in hospital complexity.