Privately owned ASCs are associated with increased pediatric tympanostomy tube use in their communities, according to a study published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
Researchers used data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Ambulatory Surgery Databases to study children under 5 years who underwent outpatient tympanostomy tube placement in New York or Florida from 2010 to 2014.
What you should know:
1. Researchers found 106 privately owned ASCs in Florida and 29 in New York performed tympanostomy tube placement in children under 5.
2. In Florida, researchers observed 52 percent greater tympanostomy tube use among children living in areas with the most utilization of privately owned ASCs, after accounting for zip code variations in urban and rural status, socioeconomic status and racial proportions.
3. In New York, high socioeconomic status areas with any use of privately owned ASCs had 2.6 times more tympanostomy tube use than other high socioeconomic status zip codes. This association wasn't found in areas of low socioeconomic status.
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