Association of Hospital Safety Net Status With Outcomes and Resource Use for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in the United States.

PURPOSE

Safety net hospitals (SNH) have been associated with inferior surgical outcomes and increased resource use. Utilization and outcomes for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a rescue modality for patients with respiratory or cardiac failure, may vary by safety net status. We hypothesized SNH to be associated with inferior outcomes and costs of ECMO in a national cohort.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The 2008-2017 National Inpatient Sample was queried for ECMO hospitalizations and safety net hospitals were identified. Multivariable regression was used to perform risk-adjusted comparisons of mortality, complications and resource utilization at safety net and non-safety net hospitals.

RESULTS

Of 36,491 ECMO hospitalizations, 28.2% were at SNH. On adjusted comparison SNH was associated with increased odds of mortality (AOR: 1.23), tracheostomy use (AOR: 1.51), intracranial hemorrhage (AOR: 1.39), as well as infectious complications (AOR: 1.21, all < .05), with NSNH as reference. SNH was also associated with increased hospitalization duration (β=+4.5 days) and hospitalization costs (β=+$32,880, all < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

We have found SNH to be associated with inferior survival, increased complications, and higher costs compared to NSNH. These disparate outcomes warrant further studies examining systemic and hospital-level factors that may impact outcomes and resource use of ECMO at SNH.