An analysis of Medicare data from 1995 through 2003 suggests that possibility.
Hospitals that specialize in treating particular, complex medical conditions are touted as providing high-quality, cost-efficient care, but critics argue that they might adversely affect case distribution within a healthcare market. Now, researchers have focused specifically on how specialty cardiac hospitals affect the overall use of revascularization procedures. They analyzed data from 1995 through 2003 on Medicare beneficiaries in three types of hospital referral regions: 13 where new specialty cardiac hospitals opened during that period, 142 where new cardiac programs opened at general hospitals, and 151 where no new cardiac programs started.
In 1995, rates of both coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary interven…