Physician and hospital characteristics related to length of stay for acute myocardial infarction patients: A 3-year population-based analysis

Background: The lack of studies on the simultaneous contributions of hospital and physician to the length of stay (LOS) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has hampered the development of hospital- and physician-level strategies by clinicians and policymakers. This study used 3 years of population-based data to examine the relationships of physician and hospital characteristics with LOS for AMI patients in Taiwan. Methods and Results: Multiple regression analysis was carried out to explore the relationships, using the 2001-2003 National Health Insurance Research Database of the National Health Research Institute, Taiwan. The study samples were identified by a principal diagnosis of AMI (ICD-9-CM code 410), with a total of 19,907 eligible admissions. The mean LOS was 9.1 days. The results revealed that compared with district hospitals, the LOS was significantly longer in both medical centers and regional hospitals (both p