Quality & Cost Containment in Pediatric Intensive Care

摘要

The mission of many children's hospitals is to provide care without concern for race or insurance status. In light of recent findings of differences in medical treatment according to race and insurance status for adult populations, this study examined whether such variations occurred in the setting of the pediatric intensive care unit. Data was collected on clinical and demographic measures, resource use, and outcome for 5,749 patient admissions to the intensive care units at three children's hospitals. Models to predict resource use and outcome after controlling for differences in patient severity were estimated to assess variations by race, gender, and insurance status. The primary hypothesis underlying this research project was that finding based on adult populations may not generalize to the setting of the pediatric intensive care unit. The study findings support this hypothesis. This study produced no evidence that therapies or outcomes differ by race or insurance after controlling for illness severity.