Percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute myocardial infarction in a Vermont hospital 2015-2019: exploring associations between travel time and length of stay.

OBJECTIVE: To examine if travel time between patients experiencing acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and a Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) center influenced hospital length of stay (HLOS) and discharge destination. METHODS: Data was extracted from the Vermont Uniform Hospital Discharge Data Reporting System (2015-2019). A logistic regression model examined the association between travel time to PCI center and hospital length of stay (HLOS). Additionally, a χ2 test was performed alongside a logistic regression analysis to examine the association between HLOS and patient discharge outcomes. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis found no statistically significant relationship between HLOS and travel time from the PCI center but did show a significant increase in risk for a HLOS over five days in encounters over the age of 65. CONCLUSIONS: Increased travel time did not affect outcomes for patients presenting for AMI treated with PCI. However, there was a strong relationship between increased HLOS and poor discharge outcome. Increasing the density of PCI-equipped hospitals does not appear to be necessary to reduce HLOS or improve discharge outcomes in the population represented by this data set