Accountable Care Hospitals and Preventable Emergency Department Visits for Rural Dementia Patients

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES This study examined urban/rural differences in the frequency of preventable emergency department (ED) visits among patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), with a focus on the variation of accountable care organization (ACO) participation status for hospitals in urban and rural areas. DESIGN We performed a cross-sectional study using the 2015 State Emergency Department Databases, the American Hospital Association Annual Survey of Hospitals, and the Area Health Resource File. Individual-, county-, and hospital-level characteristics and state fixed effects were used for model specification. SETTING Patients with ADRD from seven states who visited the ED and had routine discharges. PARTICIPANTS Our sample consisted of 117,196 patients with ADRD. MEASUREMENTS The outcome was preventable ED visits classified using the New York University Emergency Department visit algorithm. We performed a multivariable logistic regression to estimate the variation of preventable ED visits by urban and rural areas. RESULTS Rural patients with ADRD had 1.13 higher adjusted odds (P= .007) of going to the ED for a preventable visit compared with their urban counterparts. In addition, ACO-affiliated hospitals had .91 lower adjusted odds (P= .005) of preventable ED visits for ADRD patients compared with hospitals not affiliated with an ACO. Whole-county Mental Health Care Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) (odds ratio = 1.14;P= .002) designation was also an indicator of higher preventable ED rates. CONCLUSION ACO delivery systems have the potential to decrease rural preventable ED visits among ADRD patients.