Use of population-based data to demonstrate how waitlist-based metrics overestimate geographic disparities in access to liver transplant care

American Journal of Transplantation

Volumn 16, Issue 10, 2016, Pages 2903-2911

  Goldberg, David S ^a,b   French, B ^a,b   Sahota, G ^c   Wallace, A E ^c   Lewis, J D ^a,b   Halpern, S D ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

^c HEALTHCORE INC   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD; COHORT ANALYSIS; COMPARATIVE STUDY; DATA BASE; DECOMPENSATED LIVER CIRRHOSIS; END STAGE LIVER DISEASE; FEMALE; GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION; GRAFT SURVIVAL; HEALTH CARE ACCESS; HEALTH CARE DISPARITY; HOSPITAL ADMISSION; HOSPITAL MORTALITY; HUMAN; ICD-9-CM; INCIDENCE; LIVER CELL CARCINOMA; LIVER TRANSPLANTATION; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; MALE; MEDICAID; MORTALITY RATE; PATIENT CARE; POPULATION RESEARCH; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RETROSPECTIVE STUDY; SURVIVAL RATE; FOLLOW UP; GEOGRAPHY; HEALTH CARE DELIVERY; INFORMATION PROCESSING; INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES; MIDDLE AGED; PROGNOSIS; STATISTICS AND NUMERICAL DATA; TRANSPLANTATION; UNITED STATES;

DATASETS AS TOPIC; END STAGE LIVER DISEASE; FEMALE; FOLLOW-UP STUDIES; GEOGRAPHY; HEALTH SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY; HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES; HUMANS; INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES; LIVER TRANSPLANTATION; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; PROGNOSIS; RETROSPECTIVE STUDIES; TISSUE AND ORGAN PROCUREMENT; UNITED STATES; WAITING LISTS;

EID: 84969915645     PISSN: 16006135     EISSN: 16006143     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/ajt.13820     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Members of the Medical Professionalism Project: ABIM Foundation. Medical professionalism in the new millennium: A physician charter. Ann Intern Med 2002; 136: 243–246.
2. Goldberg DS, French B, Forde KA, et al. Association of distance from a transplant center with access to waitlist placement, receipt of liver transplantation, and survival among US veterans. JAMA 2014; 311: 1234–1243.
3. Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med 2002; 347: 284–287.
4. Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Geographic favoritism in liver transplantation—Unfortunate or unfair? N Engl J Med 1998; 339: 1322– 1325.
5. United Network for Organ Sharing. Mission, vision and values. Available from: https://www.unos.org/about/mission-values/
6. Ubel PA, Loewenstein G. Distributing scarce livers: The moral reasoning of the general public. Soc Sci Med. 1996; 42: 1049– 1055.
7. Gentry SE, Massie AB, Cheek SW, et al. Addressing geographic disparities in liver transplantation through redistricting. Am J Transplant 2013; 13: 2052–2058.
8. Yeh H, Smoot E, Schoenfeld DA, Markmann JF. Geographic inequity in access to livers for transplantation. Transplantation 2011; 91: 479–486.
9. Thabut G, Munson J, Haynes K, Harhay MO, Christie JD, Halpern SD. Geographic disparities in access to lung transplantation before and after implementation of the lung allocation score. Am J Transplant 2012; 12: 3085–3093.
10. Patzer RE, Plantinga LC, Paul S, et al. Variation in dialysis facility referral for kidney transplantation among patients with end-stage renal disease in Georgia. JAMA 2015; 314: 582–594.
11. Axelrod DA, Guidinger MK, Finlayson S, et al. Rates of solid-organ wait-listing, transplantation, and survival among residents of rural and urban areas. JAMA 2008; 299: 202–207.
12. Platt R, Wilson M, Chan KA, Benner JS, Marchibroda J, McClellan M. The new Sentinel Network—Improving the evidence of medical-product safety. N Engl J Med 2009; 361: 645–647.
13. Patorno E, Bohn RL, Wahl PM, et al. Anticonvulsant medications and the risk of suicide, attempted suicide, or violent death. JAMA 2010; 303: 1401–1409.
14. Martin P, DiMartini A, Feng S, Brown R Jr, Fallon M. Evaluation for liver transplantation in adults: 2013 practice guideline by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the American Society of Transplantation. Hepatology 2014; 59: 1144–1165.
15. Goldberg DS, Lewis JD, Halpern SD, Weiner MG, Lo Re V III. Validation of a coding algorithm to identify patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in an administrative database. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2013; 22: 103–107.
16. Goldberg D, Lewis J, Halpern S, Weiner M, Lo Re V IIIValidation of three coding algorithms to identify patients with end-stage liver disease in an administrative database. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2012; 21: 765–769.
17. Chacra WRD, Yang J, Gordon S. Development of an algorithm based on ICD-9 codes to identify patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Hepatology 2013; S1: 92A–207A.
18. UNOS. Based on OPTN/UNOS data as of June 3, 2013. Available from: www.unos.org
19. UNOS. Based on OPTN/UNOS data as of September 30, 2013. Available from: www.unos.org
20. Schwartz JJ, Pappas L, Thiesset HF, et al. Liver transplantation in septuagenarians receiving meld exception points for hepatocellular carcinoma: The national experience. Liver Transpl. 2012; 18: 423–433.
21. Setoguchi S, Solomon DH, Glynn RJ, Cook EF, Levin R, Schneeweiss S. Agreement of diagnosis and its date for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors between Medicare claims and cancer registry data. Cancer Causes Control 2007; 18: 561–569.
22. Axelrod DA, Guidinger MK, McCullough KP, Leichtman AB, Punch JD, Merion RM. Association of center volume with outcome after liver and kidney transplantation. Am J Transplant 2004; 4: 920–927.
23. Goldberg DS, Krok K, Batra S, Trotter JF, Kawut SM, Fallon MB. Impact of the hepatopulmonary syndrome MELD exception policy on outcomes of patients after liver transplantation: An analysis of the UNOS database. Gastroenterology. 2014;146: 1256–1265.
24. Bittermann T, Niu B, Hoteit MA, Goldberg D. Waitlist priority for hepatocellular carcinoma beyond Milan criteria: A potentially appropriate decision without a structured approach. Am J Transplant 2014; 14: 79–87.
25. Composite Pre-Transplant Metric (CPM). 2014. Available from: http://transplant-pro.org/wp-content/uploads/Updated-CPM-FAQ_DEC-2011.pdf.
26. Ko CW, Kelley K, Meyer KE. Physician specialty and the outcomes and cost of admissions for end-stage liver disease. Am J Gastroenterol 2001; 96: 3411–3418.
27. Bini EJ, Weinshel EH, Generoso R, et al. Impact of gastroenterology consultation on the outcomes of patients admitted to the hospital with decompensated cirrhosis. Hepatology 2001; 34: 1089–1095.
28. Thomson M, Volk M, Kim HM, Piette JD. An automated telephone monitoring system to identify patients with cirrhosis at risk of re-hospitalization. Dig Dis Sci 2015; 60: 3563–3569.
29. Ertel AE, Kaiser T, Shah SA. Using telehealth to enable patient-centered care for liver transplantation. JAMA Surg 2015; 150: 674–675.
30. Perumalswami PV, Factor SH, Kapelusznik L, et al. Hepatitis Outreach Network: A practical strategy for hepatitis screening with linkage to care in foreign-born communities. J Hepatol 2013; 58: 890–897.
31. OPTN/UNOS Liver and Intestinal Organ Transplantation Committee. Redesigning liver distribution to reduce variation in access to liver transplantation. Available from: https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/ContentDocuments/Liver_Concepts_2014.pdf
32. Gentry SE, Segev DL, Kasiske BL, Mulligan DC, Hirose R. Robust models support redistricting liver allocation to reduce geographic disparity. Transplantation 2015; 99: e159–e160.
33. Bryce CL, Angus DC, Arnold RM, et al. Sociodemographic differences in early access to liver transplantation services. Am J Transplant 2009; 9: 2092–2101.
34. Amaral S, Patzer R. Disparities, race/ethnicity and access to pediatric kidney transplantation. Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens 2013; 22: 336–343.
35. Joshi S, Gaynor JJ, Bayers S, et al. Disparities among Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites in time from starting dialysis to kidney transplant waitlisting. Transplantation 2013; 95: 309–318.
36. Patzer RE, Perryman JP, Schrager JD, et al. The role of race and poverty on steps to kidney transplantation in the Southeastern United States. Am J Transplant 2012; 12: 358–368.
37. Cho HC, Jung HY, Sinn DH, et al. Mortality after surgery in patients with liver cirrhosis: Comparison of Child-Turcotte-Pugh, MELD and MELDNa score. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2011; 23: 51–59.