International Journal of General Medicine (Feb 2022)
Healthcare Utilization Disparities Among Lung Cancer Patients in US Hospitals During 2010–2014: Evidence from the US Hispanic Population’s Hospital Charges and Length of Stay
Abstract
Sun Jung Kim,1– 3,* Mar Medina,4,* Rigoberto Delgado,5 Anastasia Miller,5 Jongwha Chang5 1Department of Health Administration and Management, College of Medical Science, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Republic of Korea; 2Center for Healthcare Management Science, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Republic of Korea; 3Department of Software Convergence, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Republic of Korea; 4School of Pharmacy, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA; 5Department of Healthcare Administration, College of Business, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jongwha Chang, Tel +1940-898-2899, Email [email protected]: There is a lack of research focused on understanding the differences in the healthcare utilization of lung cancer patients between ethnic groups. This study aims to characterize disparities in healthcare utilization for Hispanic lung cancer patients compared to non-Hispanic patients.Methods: National Inpatient Sample was used to identify nationwide lung cancer patients (n=141,675, weighted n=702,878) from 2010 to 2014. We examined the characteristics of the study sample by race (Hispanic vs non-Hispanic) and its association with healthcare utilization, measured by discounted hospital charges and length of stay. Multivariate survey regression models were used to identify predictors by racial groups.Results: Among 702,878 lung cancer patients, 5.1% were Hispanic. Descriptive statistics showed that Hispanics have higher hospital charges and length of stay. Survey regression results also suggested that Hispanic lung cancer patients were associated with higher hospital charges (26.6%) and length of stay (3.5%) than non-Hispanic lung cancer patients. Subgroup analysis displayed a similar trend to the full model.Conclusion: Healthcare utilization disparities may exist for lung cancer Hispanic patients due to insurance status and early detection. Thus, our findings support providing financial assistance and targeted programs for minority patients. Future health policy consideration should be given to those vulnerable populations where limited healthcare resources are available.Keywords: lung cancer, Hispanic patients, NIS sample, healthcare utilization
