Use of out-of-plan services by Medicare members of HIP. (1/55)

Use of out-of-plan services in 1972 by Medicare members of the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York (HIP) is examined in terms of the demographic and enrollment characteristics of out-of-plan users, types of services received outside the plan, and the relationship of out-of-plan to in-plan use. Users of services outside the plan tended to be more seriously ill and more frequently hospitalized than those receiving all of their services within the plan. The costs to the SSA of providing medical care to HIP enrollees are compared with analogous costs for non-HIP beneficiaries, and the implications for the organization and financing of health services for the aged are discussed.  (+info)

The effect of type of hospital and health insurance on hospital length of stay in Irbid, North Jordan. (2/55)

The study aimed at examining the effects of type of hospital and health insurance status on hospital length of stay for three identified medical and surgical conditions. Medical records of 520 patients for the year 1991 were reviewed in one public and one private hospital. Comparison of hospital length of stay for the private (n = 185) versus public sector patients (n = 335) was carried out. The effect of presence of health insurance (n = 189) and the lack of it (n = 325) was also studied. It was found that the average length of stay in the public hospital was significantly longer than the private one (3.3 versus 2.7 days). In addition, insured patients had significantly longer hospital length of stay (3.3 versus 3.0 days). The results of the multi-variate analysis showed that after socioeconomic factors and clinical conditions of patients were adjusted for, the influence of hospital type and health insurance on hospital length of stay was about one day. The paper also discusses the need to base hospital cost-containment strategies on studies of hospital behaviour and performance.  (+info)

Explaining price variations for the inpatient treatment of congestive heart failure. (3/55)

OBJECTIVE: To identify key factors affecting hospital charge variations in the treatment of congestive heart failure. STUDY DESIGN: The determinants of total charges and average charges (the latter being a measure of treatment intensity) were evaluated using hospital discharge abstract data from 1994. Multivariate regression methods were used to help isolate the impact of key predictors of charges. In addition to relating a variety of factors (e.g., drug treatment regimens, patient comorbidities, demographic characteristics, insurance status, treatment course) to hospital charges, the analysis controlled for hospital-specific fixed effects. The study includes the effects of pharmacologic agents--information typically unavailable on inpatient claims-based data. RESULTS: Drug treatment regimens, particularly treatment with inotropic agents, were associated with substantially higher total charges. Comorbidities also increased the cost of treating congestive heart failure, particularly when septicemia, pneumonia, or acute myocardial infarction were involved. In contrast, gender, race, and insurance status bore little relationship to total charges or average charges. CONCLUSION: The fixed-effects estimates revealed that substantial interhospital variations in charges persisted, suggesting that there may be significant opportunities to control the inpatient costs of treating congestive heart failure.  (+info)

Cost of primary health care services in the emergency department and the family physician's office. (4/55)

An attempt has been made to determine the true cost of providing primary health care for nontraumatic conditions in the emergency departments of two hospitals in Ontario and in the offices of family physicians. A total of 1117 patients presenting with 1 of 10 common symptom/sign complexes at the emergency departments or the offices of 15 participating family physicians were studies with regard to number of visits made, type of assessment by the physician, investigations undertaken, management, therapy and outcome of the illness. Costs were calculated from the charges that would be made against the provincial health services insurance plan and from the system of hospital financing in effect in the province. The average true cost per illness episode of this type of care was $14.63 in hospital A, $14.20 in hospital B and $15.90 in the family physician's office.  (+info)

Patient compliance with managed care emergency department referral: an orthopaedic view. (5/55)

OBJECTIVE: Patient compliance with emergency department (ED)-generated referral is an important part of the delivery of quality health care. Although many studies from non-managed care health centers have reported on ED patient compliance, no studies have reported on this in a managed care setting. The objective of this study is to examine patient compliance with ED-generated referral and to produce a benchmark of follow-up rates possible in a capitated managed care system. That is to say, in a health care system whose members pay a uniform per capita payment or fee, one that has salaried physicians, owns its own hospitals, and has a mechanism of transition from ED to outpatient clinic that ensures referral accessibility. DESIGN: Retrospective review of consecutive ED patient compliance with ED-generated referral. PATIENTS/METHODS: All consecutive patients who presented to a managed care hospital's ED with an acute fracture and who were given an outpatient referral during the period from 23rd December 1998 to 23rd January, 1999. Of 8000 consecutive ED patients, 234 were included in the study. Compliance with ED-generated referral was determined from outpatient clinic records. RESULTS: Of the 234 patients treated in the ED and referred, 222 (94.9%) complied with follow-up appointments. CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated that an ED patient follow-up compliance rate of 94.9% can be obtained. It is probable that the high compliance rate is due to the features of the system studied. The high rate may also be related to the specific diagnosis studied, although previous literature reports poor ED patient compliance for the same diagnosis in a different ED setting. Additional research is needed to determine whether the high compliance rate reported in this study can be obtained in ED settings that are not part of a similar managed care system and to determine the role of referral accessibility (or inaccessibility) in current ED settings.  (+info)

Use of exercise cardiac rehabilitation after acute myocardial infarction. (6/55)

The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of participation of patients after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in phase II cardiac rehabilitation with exercise training (ie, exercise cardiac rehabilitation, ECR) in Japan. Forty-six hospitals treating patients with AMI were surveyed for their implementation of phase II ECR after AMI in 1996-98. Of the 46 hospitals, 19 were approved and 27 were not approved for health insurance payment for ECR. A total of 13685 patients with AMI were admitted to the 46 hospitals. There were no differences between approved and non-approved hospitals in the annual number of patients with AMI (Approved, 117+61 vs Non-approved, 86+71 patients per hospital, NS), the rate of performance of emergency coronary angioplasty (63+16 vs 65+20%, NS), or the rate of emergency coronary stenting (31+16 vs 34+22%, NS). However, ECR was performed routinely in 84.2% (16/19 hospitals) of the approved hospitals, but in only 22.2% (6/27 hospitals) of the non-approved hospitals (p<0.001). Although the participation rate of AMI patients in ECR was 21.0% (2875/13685 patients) overall, it was markedly lower in the non-approved hospitals (8.0%, 557/6999 patients) than in the approved hospitals (34.7%, 2318/6686 patients, p<0.0001). Based on the present result, the overall rate of participation of AMI patients in ECR in Japan was estimated at 4.8-11.7%. Despite similar patient volumes and acute phase interventional treatment of AMI between the hospitals approved and not approved for health insurance payment for ECR, ECR was markedly underused in the non-approved hospitals in Japan. To promote ECR for all AMI patients in Japan, the number of hospitals approved for ECR should be substantially increased.  (+info)

Hospital economics of the hospitalist. (7/55)

OBJECTIVE: To determine the economic impact on the hospital of a hospitalist program and to develop insights into the relative economic importance of variables such as reductions in mean length of stay and cost, improvements in throughput (patients discharged per unit time), payer methods of reimbursement, and the cost of the hospitalist program. DATA SOURCES: The primary data source was Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston. Patient demographics, utilization, cost, and revenue data were obtained from the hospital's cost accounting system and medical records. STUDY DESIGN: The hospitalist admitted and managed all patients during a six-week period on the general medical unit of Tufts-New England Medical Center. Reimbursement, cost, length of stay, and throughput outcomes during this period were contrasted with patients admitted to the unit in the same period in the prior year, in the preceding period, and in the following period. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The hospitalist group compared with the control group demonstrated: length of stay reduced to 2.19 days from 3.45 days (p<.001); total hospital costs per admission reduced to 1,775 dollars from 2,332 dollars (p<.001); costs per day increased to 811 dollars from 679 dollars (p<.001); no differences for readmission within 30 days of discharge to extended care facilities. The hospital's expected incremental profitability with the hospitalist was -1.44 dollars per admission excluding incremental throughput effects, and it was most sensitive to changes in the ratio of per diem to case rate reimbursement. Incremental throughput with the hospitalist was estimated at 266 patients annually with an associated incremental profitability of 1.3 million dollars. CONCLUSION: Hospital interventions designed to reduce length of stay, such as the hospitalist, should be evaluated in terms of cost, throughput, and reimbursement effects. Excluding throughput effects, the hospitalist program was not economically viable due to the influence of per diem reimbursement. Throughput improvements occasioned by the hospitalist program with high baseline occupancy levels are substantial and tend to favor a hospitalist program.  (+info)

PSYCHIATRIC PROGRAMS: THEIR MEDICAL INTEGRATION. (8/55)

The basic premise that psychiatry and medicine are one and the same discipline is advanced. Patients present with symptoms: sometimes largely the result of structural change, sometimes largely the result of emotional perturbation, but most frequently a mixture of both. The physician can never do his job satisfactorily without attention to the emotional problems of his patient, which is essentially the subject matter of psychiatry. He must have adequate training during his medical school years in order to recognize and handle emotional problems. The psychiatrically oriented general practitioner and the psychiatrist, who live in the community, are most valuable mental health resources and must have treatment facilities in the general hospital. Furthermore, hospital and medical insurance plans must be devised that will not penalize either doctor or patient when mental illness is recognized and dealt with in the most appropriate manner.  (+info)