2010 Atlas of Heart Disease Hospitalizations Among Medicare Beneficiaries – Heart disease hospitalization rates among Americans aged 65 years and older vary substantially depending on where they live, according to a report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The “Atlas of Heart Disease Hospitalizations Among Medicare Beneficiaries” shows that the highest hospitalization rates occur among blacks compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Hospitalization rates were also highest in counties located primarily in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, Texas and Oklahoma. A significant number of Medicare beneficiaries live in counties without hospitals capable of providing specialized heart disease treatment. The atlas provides for the first time statistics about heart disease hospitalizations at the county level. Data came from the Medicare records of more than 28 million people each year between 2000 and 2006 in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The report documented an average of 2.1 million hospitalizations for heart disease each year.”