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Trends in Cancer Treatment Service Availability Across Critical Access Hospitals and Prospective Payment System Hospitals
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Trends in Cancer Treatment Service Availability Across Critical Access Hospitals and Prospective Payment System Hospitals

Peiyin Hung, Kewei Shi, Janice C Probst, Whitney E Zahnd, Anja Zgodic, Melinda A Merrell, Elizabeth Crouch and Jan M Eberth
Medical care, v 60(3), pp 196-205
01 Mar 2022
PMID: 34432764

Abstract

Critical Care - trends Health Care Surveys Health Services Accessibility - trends Hospitals, Rural - supply & distribution Hospitals, Rural - trends Humans Neoplasms - therapy Prospective Payment System - trends Retrospective Studies United States
Rural residents experience worse cancer prognosis and access to cancer care providers than their urban counterparts. Critical access hospitals (CAHs) represent over half of all rural community hospitals. However, research on cancer services provided within CAHs is limited. The objective of this study was to investigate trends in cancer services availability in urban and rural Prospective Payment System (PPS) hospitals and CAHs. Retrospective, time-series analysis using data from 2008 to 2017 American Hospital Association Annual Surveys. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine differential trends in cancer services between urban PPS, rural PPS, and CAHs, overall and among small (<25 beds) hospitals. All US acute care and cancer hospitals (4752 in 2008 to 4722 in 2017). Primary outcomes include whether a hospital provided comprehensive oncology services, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy each year. In 2008, CAHs were less likely to provide all cancer services, especially chemotherapy (30.4%) and radiation therapy (2.9%), compared with urban (64.4% and 43.8%, respectively) and rural PPS hospitals (42.0% and 23.3%, respectively). During 2008-2017, compared with similarly sized PPS hospitals, CAHs were more likely to provide oncology services and chemotherapy, but with decreasing trends. Radiation therapy availability between small PPS hospitals and CAHs did not differ. Compared with all PPS hospitals, CAHs offered fewer cancer treatment services and experienced a decline in service capability over time. These differences in chemotherapy services were mainly driven by hospital size, as small urban and rural PPS hospitals had lower rates of chemotherapy than CAHs. Still, the lower rates of radiotherapy in CAHs highlight disproportionate challenges facing CAHs for some specialty services.

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Web of Science research areas
Health Care Sciences & Services
Health Policy & Services
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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