Pediatric cochlear implantation: Variation in income, race, payer, and charges across five states.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Our objectives were to investigate pediatric cochlear implantation (PCI) across representative states within the United States and analyze any geographical differences in age, median household income, race, insurance, and total medical charges.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional.

METHODS: Data from children (aged 0.5-18 years) who received cochlear implantation surgery were collected from the 2011 State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Databases from California (CA), Florida (FL), Maryland (MD), New York (NY), and Kentucky (KY) as a part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. We performed data analysis using a combination of Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon rank sum tests, as well as nominal logistic regression.

RESULTS: Five hundred twelve cases of PCI were performed during 2011 across the five states. The overall mean and median age of implantation were 5.6 years and 4 years, respectively. There was no statistical difference in age of implantation across states (P = .85). However, there were statistical differences in primary payer (P < .001), median household income quartiles of patients who received an implant (P < .006), race (P < .001), and total median hospital charges for four of the states, with the exception of CA (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS: Age of PCI appears to be similar across the five states in cross-sectional analysis. Geographic variations in charges, payer, race, and median household income occur with statistical significance in PCI. Further analysis of contributing factors at each state level may help elucidate the root cause of these disparities and improve and justify a uniform approach to healthcare delivery and standards of care.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4. Laryngoscope, 128:954-958, 2018.