Cost inefficiency and mortality rates in Florida hospitals

This study examines the relationship between health outcomes and cost inefficiency in Florida hospitals over the period 1999-2001, with health outcomes measured by risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rates. Previous research has come to conflicting conclusions regarding the relationship between costs and health outcomes. We hypothesize that these seemingly conflicting findings are due to the fact that total cost has two components--cost that reflects the best use of resources under current circumstances and cost associated with waste or inefficiency. By isolating costs due to inefficiency, we can examine directly their relationship, if any, to hospital mortality rates, and begin to assess whether policies that create incentives for hospitals to increase efficiency have adverse effects on health outcomes. We regress an in-hospital mortality index for each hospital on a measure of the hospital's cost inefficiency, obtained from a stochastic cost frontier estimation, as well as on predicted mortality and a set of variables linked to mortality performance. Our results indicate a positive and significant relationship between a hospital's mortality performance and its inefficiency: on average, a one percentage point reduction in cost inefficiency would be associated with one fewer in-hospital death per 10,000 discharges, holding patient risk and other factors constant.     

U.S. hospital efficiency and adoption of health information technology

This study empirically examines the association between hospital inefficiency and the decision to introduce electronic medical records (EMR) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) in a national sample of U.S. general hospitals in urban areas in 2006. The main research question is whether the presence of hospital cost inefficiency or other factors driving inefficiency in the production process of a hospital explain low adoption rates of health information technology (HIT) in a hospital setting. We estimated a logistic regression of HIT adoption as a function of hospital cost inefficiency scores obtained using a stochastic frontier analysis. The results demonstrate that hospitals with a greater degree of cost inefficiency were more likely to introduce EMR, suggesting that the benefits of EMR implementation in terms of improved efficiency were likely to outweigh the costs of adoption compared to hospitals that are more efficient. The results showed no association between cost inefficiency and the CPOE adoption decision.     

MEASURING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COSTS AND OUTCOMES: THE EXAMPLE OF ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION IN GERMAN HOSPITALS

In this paper, we propose a methodological approach to measure the relationship between hospital costs and health outcomes. We propose to investigate the relationship for each condition or disease area by using patient‐level data. We examine health outcomes as a function of costs and other patient‐level variables by using the following: (1) two‐stage residual inclusion with Murphy–Topel adjustment to address costs being endogenous to health outcomes, (2) random‐effects models in both stages to correct for correlation between observation, and (3) Cox proportional hazard models in the second stage to ensure that the available information is exploited. To demonstrate its application, data on mortality following hospital treatment for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) from a large German sickness fund were used. Provider reimbursement was used as a proxy for treatment costs. We relied on the Ontario Acute Myocardial Infarction Mortality Prediction Rules as a disease‐specific risk‐adjustment instrument. A total of 12,284 patients with treatment for AMI in 2004–2006 were included. The results showed a reduction in hospital costs by €100 to increase the hazard of dying, that is, mortality, by 0.43%. The negative association between costs and mortality confirms that decreased resource input leads to worse outcomes for treatment after AMI. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TRULY INEFFICIENT OR PROVIDING BETTER QUALITY OF CARE? ANALYSING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RISK‐ADJUSTED HOSPITAL COSTS AND PATIENTS' HEALTH OUTCOMES

Observed variation in hospital costs may be attributable to differences in patients' health outcomes. Previous studies have resorted to inherently incomplete outcome measures such as mortality or re‐admission rates to assess this claim. This study makes use of a novel dataset of routinely collected patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs) linked to inpatient records to (i) access the degree to which cost variation is associated with variation in patients' health gain and (ii) explore how far judgement about hospital cost performance changes when health outcomes are accounted for. We use multilevel modelling to address the clustering of patients in providers and isolate unexplained cost variation. We find some evidence of a U‐shaped relationship between risk‐adjusted costs and outcomes for hip replacement surgery. For three other procedures (knee replacement, varicose vein and groin hernia surgery), the estimated relationship is sensitive to the choice of PROM instrument. We do not observe substantial changes in cost performance estimates when outcomes are explicitly accounted for. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

浦东新区医疗资源配置效率探究

用数据包络分析方法,选取卫生技术人员数、医疗房屋建筑面积、新区财政卫生事业经费和平均每诊疗人次费用为投入,病床使用率和年门诊总人次为产出,对浦东的医疗资源配置效率进行分析,并用投影方法对无效的原因进行探索,认为提高病床使用率和降低患者的平均每诊疗人次费用是提高医疗资源配置效率的主要途径。     

产权改革对广东省医院运行状况影响研究

收集与医院退出市场行为相关的数据，研究在营利性、非营利性及国有和私有产权共存的医疗产业中，医院退出医疗市场行为与其运营效率的关系。应用医院的相对无效率残差、产权形式和其他相关因素来分析1999年至2003年广东省医院的退出行为。在方法上，将医院因为承担非营利性工作所导致的无效率从决定医院退出行为的运营效率中分离出来考虑。结果发现，相对无效率对营利性医院退出医疗市场的行为影响很大．而相对无效率对国有非营利性医院在医疗市场中存在无明显影响。产权改革既不是提高医院运营效率的必要条件也不是充分条件：医院运营效率的影响是多方面的，政策性负担是重要的影响因素。     

A Position Paper on How Cost and Quality Reforms Are Changing Healthcare in America

Healthcare spending in the United States is the highest in the world, yet quality indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality lag other countries. U.S. reforms are under way to lower costs and raise quality of care, notably the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Value‐based purchasing (VBP) and programs for reducing the incidence of hospital‐acquired conditions (HACs) and hospital readmissions represent initial changes. With these programs, overarching themes are to coordinate care during and beyond hospitalization and to ensure that physicians and hospitals are aligned in their treatment strategies. Hospital malnutrition represents a large, hidden, and costly component of medical care; hospital administrators and caregivers alike must harness the benefits of nutrition as a vital component of healthcare. Medical, nursing, and allied health training programs must find places in their curricula to increase awareness of nutrition and promote knowledge of best‐practice nutrition interventions. Hospitals use dietitians and nutrition support teams as critical members of the patient care team, but more work needs to be done to disseminate and enforce best nutrition practices. Such training, nutrition interventions, and practice changes can help prevent and treat malnutrition and thus help avert HACs, reduce hospital readmissions, lower infection and complication rates, and shorten hospital stays. Nutrition care is an effective way to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes. This article calls hospital executives and bedside clinicians to action: recognize the value of nutrition care before, during, and after hospitalization, as well as develop training programs and policies that promote nutrition care.     

The relationship between baseline health and longitudinal costs of hospital use

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between baseline health and costs of hospital use over a period of eight years. We combine cross-sectional survey data with information from the Dutch national hospital register. Four different indicators of health (self-perceived health, long-term impairments, ADL limitations and comorbidity) are considered. We find that for ages 50 to 70, differences in hospital costs between good health and bad health are substantial and persist during the whole time period. However, for higher ages expected hospital costs for individuals in bad health decline rapidly and become lower than those for people in good health after about six to seven years. The higher mortality rate among people in bad health is the primary cause here. Our results are confirmed for all four health indicators. We conclude that relying on better health to contain healthcare expenditures is too optimistic, and the interaction between health and mortality should be taken into account when projecting healthcare costs. Healthy ageing is important, but more for health gains than for cost savings.     

A national disease registry moves beyond clinical impact, fostering measurable cost savings at the community hospital level

National disease registries have existed for many years, and give hospitals and medical professionals centralized, disease-specific databases that can be used to study both treatment protocols and quality outcomes. To date, most efforts have focused on the quality management and clinical aspects of disease registries. However, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, using the National Registry for Myocardial Infarction, recently concluded a study that identified and then attempted to quantify several positive financial effects on the hospital in terms of improved cost outcomes and resource management. The study concluded that activities that improve clinical outcomes (reduce mortality, morbidity, and complications) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients can have a wide range of effects not only for the patients themselves, but also on the cost of care and the utilization of resources. The study discovered that these effects can be measured and expressed quantitatively or qualitatively. Consequently, improving the clinical quality of AMI patient care or reducing the costs of that care can be expected to produce enhanced value for health care consumers, providers, and the health care economy. Furthermore, it is highly likely that this principle would apply to many other kinds of disease registry programs when used to support quality improvement activities.     

随机前沿成本模型在中医院技术效率评价中的应用

目的 分析全国中医院技术效率现状，探讨低效率的影响因素，提出针对性建议。方法 运用平行数据随机前沿成本模型，分析全国60所中医院的技术效率；运用多元逐步回归分析，探讨低效率的影响因素。结果 60所中医院的平均低效率为22．59％，且随东部、中部、西部有低效率增加的趋势；病床使用率、卫生技术人员占全院职工数的比例等5个指标对总成本增加的影响有统计学意义。结论 平行数据随机前沿成本模型是评价中医院技术效率的一种较适宜的方法。在对中医院低效率的现状及其影响因素进行分析的基础上，提出加强科学管理、提高资源利用率，减少不必要浪费等建议。     

Does hospital ownership influence hospital referral region health rankings in the United States

Extensive evidence demonstrates that a hospital's organizational ownership structure impacts its overall performance, but little is known concerning the influence of hospital structure on the health of its community. This paper explores the association between US hospital referral region (HRR) health rankings and hospital ownership and performance. Data from the 2016 Commonwealth Fund Scorecard on Local Health System Performance, the American Hospital Association dataset, and the Hospital Value‐Based Purchasing dataset are utilized to conduct a cross‐sectional analysis of 36 quality measures across 306 HRRs. Multivariate regression analysis was used to estimate the association among hospital ownership, system performance measures—access and affordability, prevention and treatment, avoidable hospital use and cost, and healthy lives—and performance as measured by value‐based purchasing total performance scores. We found that indicators of access and affordability, as well as prevention and treatment, were significantly associated across all 3 hospitals' organizational structures. Hospital referral regions with a greater number of not‐for‐profit hospitals demonstrated greater indications of access and affordability, as well as better prevention and treatment rankings than for‐profit and government hospitals. Hospital referral regions with a greater number of government, nonfederal hospitals had worse scores for healthy lives. Furthermore, the greater the total performance scores score, the better the HRR score on prevention and treatment rankings. The greater the per capita income, the better the score across all 4 dimensions. As such, this inquiry supports the assertion that performance of a local health system is dependent on its community's resources of health care delivery entities and their structure.     

The Cost Efficiency and Clinical Quality of Institutional Long-Term Care for the Elderly

This study applied the stochastic frontier cost function with inefficiency effects to estimate the association between quality of care and cost efficiency in institutional long-term care wards for the elderly in Finland. We used several clinical quality indicators for indicating adverse care processes and outcomes, based on the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI)/Minimum Data Set (MDS). Average cost inefficiency among the wards was 22%. We found an association between the clinical quality indicators and cost inefficiency. Higher prevalence of pressure ulcers was associated with higher costs, whereas the higher prevalence of use of depressants and hypnotics increased inefficiency.     

The relationship between primary care and life chances.

Many researchers criticize clinical medicine for its failure to improve mortality rates. But in their critiques, few distinguish primary care from expensive, high-technology specialized care. This research is concerned with the empirical relationship between the availability of health services resources (i.e., primary care, specialty care, hospital beds) and certain "life chances," as measured by overall and disease-specific mortality rates, and life expectancy. The model shows a significant direct association between primary care and favorable mortality outcomes, though the same does not hold true for variables such as hospital beds or physician specialists. There should be greater emphasis on prevention-oriented primary care as a mechanism for health improvement and cost control.     

Outcomes and costs of outpatient and inpatient cataract surgery: a randomised clinical trial

The aim of this study was to compare clinical and perceived health outcomes and cost between ambulatory and inpatient cataract surgery. An unmasked randomised clinical trial was undertaken. Cataract surgery patients of three public hospitals in Barcelona (Spain) who met inclusion criteria for ambulatory surgery were randomly assigned to two groups: outpatient hospital and inpatient hospital. Primary outcome measures were early and late postoperative surgical complications and visual acuity. Secondary outcome measures were perceived visual function, overall perceived health status, and costs. A total of 464 outpatients and 471 inpatients were analysed. No statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups in visual acuity (P =.48), nor for the other clinical and perceived health outcome measures, except for early postoperative complications. Outpatients presented at least one complication in the first 24 h after surgery more frequently than inpatients (64 vs. 43; RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1, 2.4), but 4 months after surgery the differences in complications rates between groups disappeared. The cost of surgery was lower for outpatients than for inpatients (1001 vs. 1218 Euros; P <.001). Ambulatory cataract surgery was more cost-effective than inpatient surgery. Despite the higher risk of early complications in the outpatient hospital group, these differences may not be clinically relevant because the 4-month postoperative outcomes were not affected.     

Rural hospital costs: an analysis with policy implications.

The 1977 National Guidelines for Health Planning suggest a maximum of 4 hospital beds per 1,000 population and a minimum occupancy rate of 80 percent for those beds as desirable for an efficient local hospital system. Rural areas often have more than 4 hospital beds per 1,000 population and generally exhibit occupancy rates well below the rate specified by the Guidelines. Hence, there appears to be an opportunity for reducing the cost of hospital services in rural areas by providing care with fewer beds concentrated in larger, better utilized facilities. This paper presents estimates of the annual savings that would result from following such a policy in rural areas. The statistically estimated cost curves are based on data from a sample of 116 rural hospitals for the years 1971-77. With a quadratic specification for the cost function, the hospital size that minimizes average costs is estimated to be 113 beds, and the occupancy rate that minimizes costs is 73 percent. Hospitals with 113 beds are estimated to have average costs per patient day that are from $6.51 (logarithmic specification) to $15.15 (quadratic specification) below the average cost per patient day of a 41-bed hospital, the average size of the hospitals in the sample. Hospitals with a 73 percent occupancy rate are estimated to have average costs that are $5.96 logarithmic specification to $11.75 (quadratic specification) lower than the average costs in hospitals with 51 percent occupancy rates, the average in the sample, if other factors are held constant. These benefits can be weighed by health policy analysts against the increased cost of travel and ambulance service, and the accompanying increase in risk to patients, to determine if the present structure for the delivery of acute care in rural areas warrants change.     

The effect of co-morbidities on health-related quality of life in patients placed on the waiting list for total joint replacement

Background  

Co-morbidity is a powerful predictor of health care outcomes and costs, as well as an important cofounder in epidemiologic studies. The effect of co-morbidities is generally related to mortality or complications. This study evaluated the association between co-morbidity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients awaiting total joint replacement.     

术前肌肉减少症对胃癌病人临床预后的影响:一项前瞻性队列研究

目的:探讨胃癌病人术前存在肌肉减少症对术后病人临床预后的影响。方法:前瞻性纳入93例胃癌病人,使用生物电阻抗法检测骨骼肌质量,分为两组:肌肉减少症组和非肌肉减少症组,比较分析术前存在肌肉减少症对胃癌病人术后总并发症发生率、住院时间、住院费用、60天再入院及病死率等指标的影响。结果:术前存在肌肉减少症的病人与正常对照组相比:总并发症发生率、总住院天数和术后住院天数具有显著性差异(P0.05)。60天再入院率、60天病死率和总住院费用方面肌肉减少症组略高于正常对照组,但无统计学差异(P0.05)。单因素和多因素分析显示,术前存在肌肉减少症及存在营养风险是增加术后并发症发生率的独立危险因素。结论:术前存在肌肉减少症可导致胃癌病人术后不良临床预后,肌肉减少症是胃癌病人术后并发症增加的独立危险因素,术前应常规进行筛查与评估并及时纠正。     

Dialysis care, cardiovascular disease, and costs in end-stage renal disease in Brazil

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluates the cost of dialysis care in Brazil, including costs of ambulatory care and hospital admissions due to all causes and cardiovascular events. METHODS: Data were analyzed for 200 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on chronic hemodialysis in Brazil between 2001 and 2004. Main end points were all-cause mortality, all-cause hospital admissions, and cardiovascular events. Direct costs of dialysis treatment and complications were computed from the perspective of two payers, the Ministry of Health (MoH) and private health insurance (PHI). RESULTS: Mean number of days of hospitalization was 12 per patient-year. There were 105 cardiovascular events; the most frequent events were coronary disease (n = 59, 56 percent) and congestive heart failure (n = 26, 25 percent). The rate of cardiovascular events was 193 per 1,000 patient-years. There were 43 deaths, and the death rate was 79 per 1,000 patient-years. Median cost per hospital admission was US$ 675 and US$ 932 from the perspective of the MoH and PHI. For admissions due to cardiovascular causes, the corresponding costs were US$ 1,639 and US$ 4,499, respectively. Mean global cost per patient-year for chronic hemodialysis therapy was US$ 7,980 and US$ 13,428 from the perspective of the MoH and PHI, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Patients on chronic hemodialysis care incur significant healthcare resources due to the costs of dialysis and complications, notably cardiovascular disease. New disease management programs aimed at reducing cardiovascular morbidity and efficient use of resources are critical to ensuring the sustainability of treatments for ESRD in Brazil.     

公立医院成本控制与管理

政府投入减少,医疗服务成本不断提高和医疗服务市场竞争日趋激烈,公立医院为增强竞争能力,提高效率和谋求可持续发展,实行成本控制管理已经是迫在眉睫的事情。加强经济管理,促进内涵建设,走出一条"优质、高效、低耗"的道路,乃医院发展之核心。成本控制作为现代经济管理的一种有效手段,能通过对医院和医疗服务成本的控制和管理,更新医院经济管理的观念,提高医院全体员工的成本意识,减少浪费,从而提高医院的社会效益和经济效益,增强医院在市场经济下的竞争能力。