Admission to Hospitals With On-Site Cardiac Catheterization Facilities

Admission to a hospital with a capability for cardiac procedures is associated with a higher likelihood of referral for a cardiac procedure but not with a better short-term clinical outcome. Whether there are differences in long-term mortality and resource consumption is not clear. We sought to determine whether elderly Medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to hospitals with on-site cardiac catheterization facilities have lower long-term hospital costs and better outcomes than patients admitted to hospitals without such facilities.