The overall goal of this project is to develop and evaluate an organized, regional system of pediatric emergency care in rural western Pennsylvania.
The OUTREACH project will develop, implement and evaluate an organized system of regional pediatric emergency care in rural western Pennsylvania. Toward that end the investigators have developed three broad goals: (1) to define the key barriers and potential solutions to regionalized pediatric emergency care through community stakeholder engagement; (2) to implement a regionalized system of pediatric emergency care using education, community outreach and telemedicine; and (3) evaluate the impact of the system on health care access and outcomes for rural children. The investigators will implement the intervention in a sample of rural hospitals in Pennsylvania using a staggered roll-out design, and compare outcomes of children seen in these hospitals to similar matched hospitals in the state, using Pennsylvania state Medicaid data to evaluate the impact of the intervention.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
5,000
Develop, implement and evaluate an organized system of regional pediatric emergency care in rural Western Pennsylvania using four pillars: education, community, protocolized triage and transport, and telemedicine.
University of Pittburgh Medical Center
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Average distance from home to the nearest facility with specialized pediatric emergency care capabilities
This population-based outcome will act as a measure of access and relates to HRSA Maternal Child Health Bureau performance measure AHS-8 and AHS-9 (access to pre-hospital EMS and wait times)
Time frame: One-year
Incidence of emergency transfers to CHP after an index community ED visit
Time frame: 90 days
Incidence of emergency transfers to CHP that do not result in a hospital admission
Time frame: 90 days
Total health care encounters outside the county within three months after an index community ED visit
Time frame: 90 days
Mortality after an index community ED visit for specified high-risk conditions (trauma, sepsis, and in the chronic disease population)
These outcomes will address our goal to increase child health and related to the HRSA Maternal Child Health Bureau performance measures MICH-1,2 and 3
Time frame: 90 days
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