Abstract
Small-area differences in hospital use were examined using hospitaldischarge abstract data for the populations of seven small service areas in Iowa that exhibited substantial variation in admission rates during 1980. The results indicate (1) a marked difference in the age composition of the patient populations with older patients being more common among residents of high-use areas, (2) higher ageand sexadjusted discharge rates per 1000 in the high-use areas across many diagnostic categories, (3) frequently higher average lengths of stay in high-use areas, (4) a lack of conformity between discharge patterns for selected surgical procedures and diagnoses, and (5) more readmissions to the same hospital during a 12-month period for residents of high-use areas. This data set comprises one part of a study of smallarea differences that also employed household surveys, physician surveys, and other existing data sets. The findings illustrate the potential and limitations of hospital discharge abstracts as a data base for evaluating hospital discharge abstracts as a data base for evaluating hospital utilization differentials.
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