Importance Hospital care for children is becoming more concentrated, with interhospital
transfer occurring more frequently even for common conditions. Condition-specific analysis
is required to determine the value, costs, and consequences of this trend. Objectives To
describe the capabilities of transferring and receiving hospitals and to determine how often
children transferred after an initial diagnosis of abdominal pain or appendicitis require
higher levels of care. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective cohort analysis using …