The expenses incurred by a hospital in providing care. The hospital costs attributed to a particular patient care episode include the direct costs plus an appropriate proportion of the overhead for administration, personnel, building maintenance, equipment, etc. Hospital costs are one of the factors which determine HOSPITAL CHARGES (the price the hospital sets for its services).

Absolute, comparative, or differential costs pertaining to services, institutions, resources, etc., or the analysis and study of these costs.

The actual costs of providing services related to the delivery of health care, including the costs of procedures, therapies, and medications. It is differentiated from HEALTH EXPENDITURES, which refers to the amount of money paid for the services, and from fees, which refers to the amount charged, regardless of cost.

Economic aspects related to the management and operation of a hospital.

The period of confinement of a patient to a hospital or other health facility.

The assignment, to each of several particular cost-centers, of an equitable proportion of the costs of activities that serve all of them. Cost-center usually refers to institutional departments or services.

The prices a hospital sets for its services. HOSPITAL COSTS (the direct and indirect expenses incurred by the hospital in providing the services) are one factor in the determination of hospital charges. Other factors may include, for example, profits, competition, and the necessity of recouping the costs of uncompensated care.

The containment, regulation, or restraint of costs. Costs are said to be contained when the value of resources committed to an activity is not considered excessive. This determination is frequently subjective and dependent upon the specific geographic area of the activity being measured. (From Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)

Hospitals maintained by a university for the teaching of medical students, postgraduate training programs, and clinical research.

The personal cost of acute or chronic disease. The cost to the patient may be an economic, social, or psychological cost or personal loss to self, family, or immediate community. The cost of illness may be reflected in absenteeism, productivity, response to treatment, peace of mind, or QUALITY OF LIFE. It differs from HEALTH CARE COSTS, meaning the societal cost of providing services related to the delivery of health care, rather than personal impact on individuals.

Hospitals engaged in educational and research programs, as well as providing medical care to the patients.

The amount that a health care institution or organization pays for its drugs. It is one component of the final price that is charged to the consumer (FEES, PHARMACEUTICAL or PRESCRIPTION FEES).

A method of comparing the cost of a program with its expected benefits in dollars (or other currency). The benefit-to-cost ratio is a measure of total return expected per unit of money spent. This analysis generally excludes consideration of factors that are not measured ultimately in economic terms. Cost effectiveness compares alternative ways to achieve a specific set of results.

A system for classifying patient care by relating common characteristics such as diagnosis, treatment, and age to an expected consumption of hospital resources and length of stay. Its purpose is to provide a framework for specifying case mix and to reduce hospital costs and reimbursements and it forms the cornerstone of the prospective payment system.

The number of beds which a hospital has been designed and constructed to contain. It may also refer to the number of beds set up and staffed for use.

Areawide planning for hospitals or planning of a particular hospital unit on the basis of projected consumer need. This does not include hospital design and construction or architectural plans.

The confinement of a patient in a hospital.

Reductions in all or any portion of the costs of providing goods or services. Savings may be incurred by the provider or the consumer.

Payment by a third-party payer in a sum equal to the amount expended by a health care provider or facility for health services rendered to an insured or program beneficiary. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988)

Hospitals located in metropolitan areas.

Costs which are directly identifiable with a particular service.

Large hospitals with a resident medical staff which provides continuous care to maternity, surgical and medical patients.

The obtaining and management of funds for hospital needs and responsibility for fiscal affairs.

Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.

Health insurance providing benefits to cover or partly cover hospital expenses.

Statistical models of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, as well as of financial considerations. For the application of statistics to the testing and quantifying of economic theories MODELS, ECONOMETRIC is available.

Institutions which provide health-related care and services to individuals who do not require the degree of care which hospitals or skilled nursing facilities provide, but because of their physical or mental condition require care and services above the level of room and board.

Hospitals owned and operated by a corporation or an individual that operate on a for-profit basis, also referred to as investor-owned hospitals.

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XVIII-Health Insurance for the Aged, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, that provides health insurance benefits to persons over the age of 65 and others eligible for Social Security benefits. It consists of two separate but coordinated programs: hospital insurance (MEDICARE PART A) and supplementary medical insurance (MEDICARE PART B). (Hospital Administration Terminology, AHA, 2d ed and A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, US House of Representatives, 1976)

Personnel who provide nursing service to patients in a hospital.

System of recording financial transactions.

Physicians who are employed to work exclusively in hospital settings, primarily for managed care organizations. They are the attending or primary responsible physician for the patient during hospitalization.

The process of accepting patients. The concept includes patients accepted for medical and nursing care in a hospital or other health care institution.

Those support services other than room, board, and medical and nursing services that are provided to hospital patients in the course of care. They include such services as laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and physical therapy services.

Special hospitals which provide care for ill children.

The effort of two or more parties to secure the business of a third party by offering, usually under fair or equitable rules of business practice, the most favorable terms.

Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.

Government-controlled hospitals which represent the major health facility for a designated geographic area.

Subsequent admissions of a patient to a hospital or other health care institution for treatment.

Hospitals which provide care for a single category of illness with facilities and staff directed toward a specific service.

Institutional systems consisting of more than one health facility which have cooperative administrative arrangements through merger, affiliation, shared services, or other collective ventures.

Schedules of medical and nursing procedures, including diagnostic tests, medications, and consultations designed to effect an efficient, coordinated program of treatment. (From Mosby's Medical, Nursing & Allied Health Dictionary, 4th ed)

Hospital unit providing continuous monitoring of the patient following anesthesia.

Facilities equipped for performing surgery.

Available manpower, facilities, revenue, equipment, and supplies to produce requisite health care and services.

Persons admitted to health facilities which provide board and room, for the purpose of observation, care, diagnosis or treatment.

The legal relation between an entity (individual, group, corporation, or-profit, secular, government) and an object. The object may be corporeal, such as equipment, or completely a creature of law, such as a patent; it may be movable, such as an animal, or immovable, such as a building.

Economic aspects of the field of medicine, the medical profession, and health care. It includes the economic and financial impact of disease in general on the patient, the physician, society, or government.

A measure of inpatient health facility use based upon the average number or proportion of beds occupied for a given period of time.

Surgery which could be postponed or not done at all without danger to the patient. Elective surgery includes procedures to correct non-life-threatening medical problems as well as to alleviate conditions causing psychological stress or other potential risk to patients, e.g., cosmetic or contraceptive surgery.

The closing of any health facility, e.g., health centers, residential facilities, and hospitals.

A class of hospitals that includes profit or not-for-profit hospitals that are controlled by a legal entity other than a government agency. (Hospital Administration Terminology, AHA, 2d ed)

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.

The administrative process of discharging the patient, alive or dead, from hospitals or other health facilities.

Hospital department responsible for the administration and provision of immediate medical or surgical care to the emergency patient.

The application of mathematical formulas and statistical techniques to the testing and quantifying of economic theories and the solution of economic problems.

A system wherein reimbursement rates are set, for a given period of time, prior to the circumstances giving rise to actual reimbursement claims.

The amounts spent by individuals, groups, nations, or private or public organizations for total health care and/or its various components. These amounts may or may not be equivalent to the actual costs (HEALTH CARE COSTS) and may or may not be shared among the patient, insurers, and/or employers.

Hospital units providing continuous surveillance and care to acutely ill patients.

Medical complexes consisting of medical school, hospitals, clinics, libraries, administrative facilities, etc.

Research aimed at assessing the quality and effectiveness of health care as measured by the attainment of a specified end result or outcome. Measures include parameters such as improved health, lowered morbidity or mortality, and improvement of abnormal states (such as elevated blood pressure).

Pathologic processes that affect patients after a surgical procedure. They may or may not be related to the disease for which the surgery was done, and they may or may not be direct results of the surgery.

Institutions with permanent facilities and organized medical staff which provide the full range of hospital services primarily to a neighborhood area.

Provisions of an insurance policy that require the insured to pay some portion of covered expenses. Several forms of sharing are in use, e.g., deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments. Cost sharing does not refer to or include amounts paid in premiums for the coverage. (From Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)

An organized procedure carried out through committees to review admissions, duration of stay, professional services furnished, and to evaluate the medical necessity of those services and promote their most efficient use.

Any infection which a patient contracts in a health-care institution.

Major administrative divisions of the hospital.

The integration of epidemiologic, sociological, economic, and other analytic sciences in the study of health services. Health services research is usually concerned with relationships between need, demand, supply, use, and outcome of health services. The aim of the research is evaluation, particularly in terms of structure, process, output, and outcome. (From Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

The levels of excellence which characterize the health service or health care provided based on accepted standards of quality.

Special hospitals which provide care to the mentally ill patient.

Surgery performed on an outpatient basis. It may be hospital-based or performed in an office or surgicenter.

Those areas of the hospital organization not considered departments which provide specialized patient care. They include various hospital special care wards.

Compilations of data on hospital activities and programs; excludes patient medical records.

Operations carried out for the correction of deformities and defects, repair of injuries, and diagnosis and cure of certain diseases. (Taber, 18th ed.)

An infant during the first month after birth.

Procedures for finding the mathematical function which best describes the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. In linear regression (see LINEAR MODELS) the relationship is constrained to be a straight line and LEAST-SQUARES ANALYSIS is used to determine the best fit. In logistic regression (see LOGISTIC MODELS) the dependent variable is qualitative rather than continuously variable and LIKELIHOOD FUNCTIONS are used to find the best relationship. In multiple regression, the dependent variable is considered to depend on more than a single independent variable.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Pathological processes involving any part of the LARYNX which coordinates many functions such as voice production, breathing, swallowing, and coughing.

A measurement index derived from a modification of standard life-table procedures and designed to take account of the quality as well as the duration of survival. This index can be used in assessing the outcome of health care procedures or services. (BIOETHICS Thesaurus, 1994)

Any materials used in providing care specifically in the hospital.

Evaluation undertaken to assess the results or consequences of management and procedures used in combating disease in order to determine the efficacy, effectiveness, safety, and practicability of these interventions in individual cases or series.

Extensive collections, reputedly complete, of facts and data garnered from material of a specialized subject area and made available for analysis and application. The collection can be automated by various contemporary methods for retrieval. The concept should be differentiated from DATABASES, BIBLIOGRAPHIC which is restricted to collections of bibliographic references.

The capacity of an organization, institution, or business to produce desired results with a minimum expenditure of energy, time, money, personnel, materiel, etc.

Information centers primarily serving the needs of hospital medical staff and sometimes also providing patient education and other services.

Health insurance plans intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay; the establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery; selective contracting with health care providers; and the intensive management of high-cost health care cases. The programs may be provided in a variety of settings, such as HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS and PREFERRED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS.

Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics.

Operative procedures for the treatment of vascular disorders.

The use of severity-of-illness measures, such as age, to estimate the risk (measurable or predictable chance of loss, injury or death) to which a patient is subject before receiving some health care intervention. This adjustment allows comparison of performance and quality across organizations, practitioners, and communities. (from JCAHO, Lexikon, 1994)

Organized services in a hospital which provide medical care on an outpatient basis.

Hospital department which administers all departmental functions and the provision of surgical diagnostic and therapeutic services.

Health care services provided to patients on an ambulatory basis, rather than by admission to a hospital or other health care facility. The services may be a part of a hospital, augmenting its inpatient services, or may be provided at a free-standing facility.

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XIX, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, administered by the states, that provides health care benefits to indigent and medically indigent persons.

A set of techniques used when variation in several variables has to be studied simultaneously. In statistics, multivariate analysis is interpreted as any analytic method that allows simultaneous study of two or more dependent variables.

Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.

Hospitals controlled by the county government.

Institutions with an organized medical staff which provide medical care to patients.

Insurance providing coverage of medical, surgical, or hospital care in general or for which there is no specific heading.

The number of new cases of a given disease during a given period in a specified population. It also is used for the rate at which new events occur in a defined population. It is differentiated from PREVALENCE, which refers to all cases, new or old, in the population at a given time.

Programs of disease surveillance, generally within health care facilities, designed to investigate, prevent, and control the spread of infections and their causative microorganisms.

Substances that reduce the growth or reproduction of BACTERIA.

A distribution in which a variable is distributed like the sum of the squares of any given independent random variable, each of which has a normal distribution with mean of zero and variance of one. The chi-square test is a statistical test based on comparison of a test statistic to a chi-square distribution. The oldest of these tests are used to detect whether two or more population distributions differ from one another.

Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time.

Management of the internal organization of the hospital.

A professional society in the United States whose membership is composed of hospitals.

Integrated, computer-assisted systems designed to store, manipulate, and retrieve information concerned with the administrative and clinical aspects of providing medical services within the hospital.

Hospital department that manages and supervises the dietary program in accordance with the patients' requirements.

Hospitals controlled by the city government.

Organized collections of computer records, standardized in format and content, that are stored in any of a variety of computer-readable modes. They are the basic sets of data from which computer-readable files are created. (from ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science, 1983)

A vital statistic measuring or recording the rate of death from any cause in hospitalized populations.

Levels within a diagnostic group which are established by various measurement criteria applied to the seriousness of a patient's disorder.

The qualitative or quantitative estimation of the likelihood of adverse effects that may result from exposure to specified health hazards or from the absence of beneficial influences. (Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 1988)

The time periods immediately before, during and following a surgical operation.

Hospital department responsible for the administration and management of services provided for obstetric and gynecologic patients.

Care of patients by a multidisciplinary team usually organized under the leadership of a physician; each member of the team has specific responsibilities and the whole team contributes to the care of the patient.

Statistical models which describe the relationship between a qualitative dependent variable (that is, one which can take only certain discrete values, such as the presence or absence of a disease) and an independent variable. A common application is in epidemiology for estimating an individual's risk (probability of a disease) as a function of a given risk factor.

Infection occurring at the site of a surgical incision.

Evaluation procedures that focus on both the outcome or status (OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT) of the patient at the end of an episode of care - presence of symptoms, level of activity, and mortality; and the process (ASSESSMENT, PROCESS) - what is done for the patient diagnostically and therapeutically.

Surgery performed on the heart.

Private hospitals that are owned or sponsored by religious organizations.

Organized systems for providing comprehensive prepaid health care that have five basic attributes: (1) provide care in a defined geographic area; (2) provide or ensure delivery of an agreed-upon set of basic and supplemental health maintenance and treatment services; (3) provide care to a voluntarily enrolled group of persons; (4) require their enrollees to use the services of designated providers; and (5) receive reimbursement through a predetermined, fixed, periodic prepayment made by the enrollee without regard to the degree of services provided. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988)

Total or partial excision of the larynx.

The presence of co-existing or additional diseases with reference to an initial diagnosis or with reference to the index condition that is the subject of study. Comorbidity may affect the ability of affected individuals to function and also their survival; it may be used as a prognostic indicator for length of hospital stay, cost factors, and outcome or survival.

Special hospitals which provide care to women during pregnancy and parturition.

The hospital department which is responsible for the organization and administration of nursing activities.

Hospital facilities equipped to carry out investigative procedures.

Excision of a portion of the colon or of the whole colon. (Dorland, 28th ed)

Cooperation among hospitals for the purpose of sharing various departmental services, e.g., pharmacy, laundry, data processing, etc.

An abnormal balloon- or sac-like dilatation in the wall of the ABDOMINAL AORTA which gives rise to the visceral, the parietal, and the terminal (iliac) branches below the aortic hiatus at the diaphragm.

The hospital department responsible for the administration and provision of diagnostic and therapeutic services for the cardiac patient.

The presence of viable bacteria circulating in the blood. Fever, chills, tachycardia, and tachypnea are common acute manifestations of bacteremia. The majority of cases are seen in already hospitalized patients, most of whom have underlying diseases or procedures which render their bloodstreams susceptible to invasion.

A class of statistical methods applicable to a large set of probability distributions used to test for correlation, location, independence, etc. In most nonparametric statistical tests, the original scores or observations are replaced by another variable containing less information. An important class of nonparametric tests employs the ordinal properties of the data. Another class of tests uses information about whether an observation is above or below some fixed value such as the median, and a third class is based on the frequency of the occurrence of runs in the data. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed, p1284; Corsini, Concise Encyclopedia of Psychology, 1987, p764-5)

A procedure in which a laparoscope (LAPAROSCOPES) is inserted through a small incision near the navel to examine the abdominal and pelvic organs in the PERITONEAL CAVITY. If appropriate, biopsy or surgery can be performed during laparoscopy.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Injuries to tissues caused by contact with heat, steam, chemicals (BURNS, CHEMICAL), electricity (BURNS, ELECTRIC), or the like.

A group of pathological conditions characterized by sudden, non-convulsive loss of neurological function due to BRAIN ISCHEMIA or INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGES. Stroke is classified by the type of tissue NECROSIS, such as the anatomic location, vasculature involved, etiology, age of the affected individual, and hemorrhagic vs. non-hemorrhagic nature. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp777-810)

Hospitals which provide care for the military personnel and usually for their dependents.

Hospitals providing medical care to veterans of wars.

Statistical models in which the value of a parameter for a given value of a factor is assumed to be equal to a + bx, where a and b are constants. The models predict a linear regression.

A class of statistical procedures for estimating the survival function (function of time, starting with a population 100% well at a given time and providing the percentage of the population still well at later times). The survival analysis is then used for making inferences about the effects of treatments, prognostic factors, exposures, and other covariates on the function.

A generic concept reflecting concern with the modification and enhancement of life attributes, e.g., physical, political, moral and social environment; the overall condition of a human life.

That portion of total HEALTH CARE COSTS borne by an individual's or group's employing organization.

The physical space or dimensions of a facility. Size may be indicated by bed capacity.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

Statistical measures of utilization and other aspects of the provision of health care services including hospitalization and ambulatory care.

A detailed review and evaluation of selected clinical records by qualified professional personnel for evaluating quality of medical care.

Surgical therapy of ischemic coronary artery disease achieved by grafting a section of saphenous vein, internal mammary artery, or other substitute between the aorta and the obstructed coronary artery distal to the obstructive lesion.

A state characterized by loss of feeling or sensation. This depression of nerve function is usually the result of pharmacologic action and is induced to allow performance of surgery or other painful procedures.

The practice of sending a patient to another program or practitioner for services or advice which the referring source is not prepared to provide.

Interfacility or intrahospital transfer of patients. Intrahospital transfer is usually to obtain a specific kind of care and interfacility transfer is usually for economic reasons as well as for the type of care provided.

A medical facility which provides a high degree of subspecialty expertise for patients from centers where they received SECONDARY CARE.

Hospital department responsible for the purchasing of supplies and equipment.

Hospital facilities which provide care for newborn infants.

Norms, criteria, standards, and other direct qualitative and quantitative measures used in determining the quality of health care.

Hospital department responsible for the organization and administration of psychiatric services.

The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.

Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.

Services specifically designed, staffed, and equipped for the emergency care of patients.

Formularies concerned with pharmaceuticals prescribed in hospitals.

Activities and programs intended to assure or improve the quality of care in either a defined medical setting or a program. The concept includes the assessment or evaluation of the quality of care; identification of problems or shortcomings in the delivery of care; designing activities to overcome these deficiencies; and follow-up monitoring to ensure effectiveness of corrective steps.

The hospital department responsible for the administration and provision of diagnostic and therapeutic services for the cancer patient.

Surgical insertion of BLOOD VESSEL PROSTHESES to repair injured or diseased blood vessels.

Recording of pertinent information concerning patient's illness or illnesses.

A system of medical care regulated, controlled and financed by the government, in which the government assumes responsibility for the health needs of the population.

Hospital department which manages and provides the required housekeeping functions in all areas of the hospital.

The degree to which the individual regards the health care service or product or the manner in which it is delivered by the provider as useful, effective, or beneficial.

The combining of administrative and organizational resources of two or more health care facilities.

A geographic area defined and served by a health program or institution.