DRG-Based Cost Minimization Models: Applications in a Hospital Environment

The primary objective of this article is to investigate the feasibility of the application of cost minimization analysis in a teaching hospital environment. The investigation is concerned with the development of cost per admission and cost per patient day models. These models are further used for determining the value of the length of stay that would minimize cost per patient day (projected length of stay) and for estimating the costs. This study is based on total of 94,500 observations (1999 and 2000), obtained from a teaching hospital in South Florida. The top ten Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) with the highest volume are selected and classified into four insurance categories: Medicaid, Medicare, commercial, and self-pay. The cost models are fitted to the data for an average R2 value of 79%, and a MAPE value of 15%. The result demonstrates that if a hospital can control the length of stay at the projected level, on average, the cost per admission and the cost per patient day will decrease. Based on 6,367 admissions for the selected DRGs in 2000, the total cost per year and the cost per patient day decreased by approximately 11.58 and 10.35%, respectively. Overall, these results confirm that the concept of cost minimization analysis in economic theory can be applied to healthcare industries for the purpose of reducing of costs. In addition, this research offers a decision support instrument for healthcare administrators.     

Case mix measurement in English hospitals: an evaluation of five methods for predicting resource use

OBJECTIVES: The introduction of an internal market in the British National Health Service (NHS) has highlighted the importance of developing appropriate, valid and timely measures of hospital activity, both for the purposes of specifying and monitoring contracts and for evaluating the success of the NHS reforms in general. This paper compares the validity of five case mix methods (Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs); Healthcare Resource Groups (HRGs) versions 1 and 2; specialty classification; a simple age categorization) in predicting resource use. METHODS: Two data sets were used to compare different case mix methods. A 3% random sample (n approximately equal to 300,000) of the 1992/3 Hospital Episodes Statistics was used to test their ability to predict variation in length of stay, and a second set of individually costed patient episodes from two hospitals (n approximately equal to 40,000) was used to test their ability to explain cost variation. Analysis of variance models were used to assess the fit of each of the case mix systems to test data and a simple significance test of differences in mean squared error between models was applied. RESULTS: All case mix methods performed poorly on untrimmed data. When lengths of stay greater than 29 days were excluded, version 2 of HRGs explained 31% of total variance in length of stay and 25% of cost variation. DRGs explained less variance but performed better than HRGs version 1. For a typical hospital patient population consisting of a range of specialties, the difference in explanatory power between HRGs V2 and DRGs was statistically significant at the 5% level for sample sizes of approximately 2000 or greater. For individual specialties, the minimum sample size required for the difference between the groupers to be significant ranged from around 300 to over 2000. CONCLUSIONS: The locally developed HRGs version 2 system appears to offer superior performance in terms of resource homogeneity to other currently available approaches. It is also more adaptable and cheaper than imported alternatives and has been formally endorsed by the UK medical Royal Colleges.     

The emerging infectious challenge of clostridium difficile-associated disease in Massachusetts hospitals: clinical and economic consequences.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the clinical and economic burden of Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD) in Massachusetts over 2 years. DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of Massachusetts hospital discharge data from 1999-2003 was conducted. Cases of CDAD in 2000 were identified using code 008.45 from the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification; patients were excluded if they had a hospitalization in the prior year during which a diagnosis of CDAD was recorded. Hospitalizations for CDAD during 2001 and 2002 were examined. For primary case patients (ie, those for which CDAD was the principal diagnosis), all inpatient costs were deemed to be related, whereas for secondary case patients, all-patient refined diagnosis-related group assignment, case severity level, and length of stay (LOS) were used to calculate incremental costs attributable to CDAD. Costs were adjusted to the national level and reported in 2005 US dollars. RESULTS: The CDAD cohort consisted of 3,692 patients; 59% were women, and the mean age was 70 years. This group represented 1% of all patients hospitalized in Massachusetts in 2000 (96% of hospitals treated at least 1 case; range, 1-257 cases). Of patients who received a first hospital diagnosis of CDAD in 2000, a total of 28% were primary case patients; their mean LOS was 6.4 days, and the mean cost per stay was $10,212. For secondary case patients, the mean CDAD-related incremental LOS was 2.95 days, and the mean incremental cost per stay was $13,675 per patient. Of patients with CDAD who survived their index stay in 2000, a total of 455 (14%) had at least 1 readmission for CDAD within the subsequent 2 years (mean number of readmissions, 1.4 per patient; range, 1-7 readmissions), with a mean time to first readmission of 3 months. Over 2 years, a total of 55,380 inpatient-days and $51.2 million were consumed by CDAD management. CONCLUSION: CDAD is widespread in Massachusetts hospitals. Rehospitalization with CDAD, if it occurs, generally happens within a few months and happens multiple times for some patients. Based on this study's findings, a conservative estimate of the annual US cost for CDAD management is $3.2 billion dollars.     

The association between influenza immunization coverage rates and hospitalization for community-acquired pneumonia in Alberta

BACKGROUND: We compared regional coverage rates of influenza vaccination (composition in 1999/00 was A/Sydney-like A/Beijing-like B/Yamanashi-like and in 2000/01 was A/Moscow A/New Caledonia B/Beijing) to the rates, cost, and mortality for community-acquired pneumonia. METHODS: We used the Pearson's correlation coefficient to establish linear associations between variables derived from Alberta administrative data during the period April 1, 1999 to March 31, 2001. RESULTS: The influenza vaccination coverage rate for the 17 health regions varied between 30% to 80% (mean 70%) in Alberta seniors (n=298,473). The annual hospitalization and ambulatory community-acquired pneumonia attack rates were 2% and 6.5% per year respectively. There were strongly negative correlations between vaccination coverage rates and pneumonia rates requiring hospitalization (r1999=-0.59 and r2000=-0.79 with both p<0.05), total per capita physician and hospital costs for pneumonia (r1999=-0.57 and r2000=-0.79 with both p<0.01), community-diagnosed pneumonia rate (r1999=-0.39, p=0.12 and r2000=-0.70, p<0.01) and per capita in-hospital mortality for pneumonia (r1999=-0.30, p=0.24 and r2000=-0.57, p<0.05). Per capita costs, rates, and mortality were highest and influenza vaccinations rate lowest in the northern, remote health regions. The per capita vaccination cost (about 10 dollars) was small in relationship to the per capita cost of hospital care for pneumonia (about 100 dollars). CONCLUSION: Regional under-utilization of preventive influenza vaccination in Alberta seniors is associated with increased utilization of health services for community-acquired pneumonia.     

New approaches to reimbursement schemes based on patient classification systems and their comparison.

We propose reimbursement schemes based on patient classification systems (PCSs) that include adjustments for length of stay (LOS) and exceptional costs and are designed to minimize undesirable effects of economic incentives. In addition, a statistical approach to compare the schemes and the underlying PCSs is proposed, where costs and LOSs for two successive years are used. The first year data provides estimates of the class cost means and the next year's reimbursements which are compared with the second year's costs. This method focuses on the predictive power of a PCS and differs from the usual retrospective analyses based on the proportion of explained variance for single year data. The approach is applied to discharge data of Swiss hospitals where stays are grouped according to five PCSs: All Patient Diagnosis-Related Groups (AP-DRGs), All Patient Refined Diagnosis-Related Groups (APR-DRGs), International Refined Diagnosis-Related Groups (IR-DRGs), Australian Refined Diagnosis-Related Groups (AR-DRGs), and SQLape. When adjusting for LOS and outliers, these systems do not differ substantially in their ability to predict cost of stay. Therefore, increasing the number of classes does not necessarily improve cost predictions. However, the payment of a fixed amount per diem (not exceeding the marginal cost) and correcting the reimbursements for exceptional costs substantially reduces the average discrepancy between costs and reimbursements.     

An injury awareness education program on outcomes of juvenile justice offenders in Western Australia: an economic analysis

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Injury is a major cause of mortality and morbidity of young people and the cost-effectiveness of many injury prevention programs remains uncertain. This study aimed to analyze the costs and benefits of an injury awareness education program, the P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth) program, for juvenile justice offenders in Western Australia. METHODS: Costs and benefits analysis based on effectiveness data from a linked-data cohort study on 225 juvenile justice offenders who were referred to the education program and 3434 who were not referred to the program between 2006 and 2011. RESULTS: During the study period, there were 8869 hospitalizations and 113 deaths due to violence or traffic-related injuries among those aged between 14 and 21 in Western Australia. The mean length of hospital stay was 4.6 days, a total of 320 patients (3.6%) needed an intensive care admission with an average length of stay of 6 days. The annual cost saved due to serious injury was $3,765 and the annual net cost of running this program was $33,735. The estimated cost per offence prevented, cost per serious injury avoided, and cost per undiscounted and discounted life year gained were $3,124, $42,169, $8,268 and $17,910, respectively. Increasing the frequency of the program from once per month to once per week would increase its cost-effectiveness substantially. CONCLUSIONS: The P.A.R.T.Y. injury education program involving real-life trauma scenarios was cost-effective in reducing subsequent risk of committing violence or traffic-related offences, injuries, and death for juvenile justice offenders in Western Australia.     

Drug adverse events in hospitals in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: The occurrence of drug adverse events in hospital settings is high and generates cost excess. The purpose of the study was to identify drug-related events during hospital admissions and to estimate their prevalence. METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil. Hospitalizations from the Brazilian Health System's national hospital database during the period between 1999 and 2002 were assessed. Admitted cases including suspected drug adverse event cases with ICD-10 (2000) coding in the main diagnosis and/or secondary diagnosis fields were included in the study. Means and standard deviations of continuous variables as well as the statistical significance of differences were estimated using variance analysis (ANOVA with a 95% confidence interval). RESULTS: There were identified 3,421 drug-related adverse events, and a prevalence of 1.8 cases per 1,000 hospitalizations was estimated. Most cases occurred in males (64.5%) admitted in contracted (34.9%) and local public hospitals (23.1%) in the departments of psychiatry (51.4%) and internal medicine (45.2%), of them, 84.1% were discharged. Most of them were adverse drug reactions or drug poisoning, and there were significant difference (p<0.000) regarding age and length of stay between these categories. Patients having adverse events were younger (35.8 vs 40.5 years old) and stayed longer in hospital (26.5 vs 5.0 days). CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of drug adverse events, although lower than those findings of international studies, is significant. National hospital admission database was considered useful in the study of drug-related events.     

Intussusception in Australia: epidemiology prior to the introduction of rotavirus vaccine

Objectives: To describe the incidence rate and clinical outcomes of intussusception in Australia in children aged <24 months prior to the use of rotavirus vaccines in Australia, and to explore associations between patient characteristics and outcomes in children with intussusception. Methods: This study used Australian national hospital discharge data on intussusception from July 2000 to June 2006 for children aged <24 months and data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as a proxy for population numbers to estimate incidence. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between patient characteristics (age, sex, ethnicity) and outcomes (length of hospital stay >2 days and the need for surgical intervention). Results: The overall incidence rate of intussusception was 5.4 per 10,000 child‐years in children under 24 months (95%CI 5.17–5.70). There was a declining rate over the study period (p<0.001). Age at time of intussusception was strongly associated with length of hospital stay and surgery. Conclusions: This study provides an estimate of the pre‐rotavirus vaccine incidence of intussusception across Australia, which is important for monitoring the occurrence of intussusceptions post the introduction of rotavirus vaccine.     

The direct costs of home care in Cuba]

OBJECTIVE: To analyze home care services in Cuba and determine how length of stay, per-day cost, and per-patient cost vary by diagnosis and by the area of the country in which the services are rendered. METHODS: Patient information was analyzed for 837 individuals who were enrolled in home care services between July 2001 and June 2002 in the following four municipalities: (1) Playa municipality (a metropolitan urban area) in the province of the City of Havana; Cruces municipality (an urban, but not metropolitan, area) in the province of Cienfuegos; Unión de Reyes municipality (a rural area) in the province of Matanzas; and Fomento municipality (a mountainous rural area) in the province of Sancti Spiritus Analysis of the mean length of stay for home care services was conducted using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve method. The impact of the following criteria on the probability and timing of discharge was also assessed: diagnosis at time of enrollment (respiratory, gastrointestinal, obstetrical/gynecological, hospital discharge follow-up, and other causes), area in which services were rendered, and patient gender and age. The total service, per-patient, and per-day costs were determined for each municipality. Adjusted multilinear regression models were used to determine how length of stay, diagnosis upon enrollment, and service area affected cost. RESULTS: The diagnoses most frequently requiring home care were respiratory illness (31.4%), hospital follow-up of acute condition (15.5%), obstetrical/ gynecological illness (10.8%), and gastrointestinal disorder (8.1%). The mean length of stay was 6 days (95% confidence interval: 5.75 to 6.25). In Fomento, the probability of patients enrolling in home care was 66% lower than in Cruces and 30% lower than in Playa and Unión de Reyes. The total direct cost of home care in the municipalities studied ranged, in Cuban pesos, from $3,983.54 to $9,624.87. The per-day cost ranged from $2.57 to $6.88, and the per-patient cost from $23.04 to $42.78. The length of stay had a direct impact on per-patient cost (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A longer length of stay was observed in the mountainous rural area; however, this was where the lowest per-patient and per-day costs were incurred. Length of stay can be used as an indicator for measuring the quality of home care services. From a cost perspective, length of stay must be evaluated based on diagnosis and geographic area.     

Estimating the costs of drug-related hospital separations in Australia

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the total hospital costs of drug-related separations in Australia from 1999/2000 to 2004/05, and separate costs for the following illicit drug classes: opioids, amphetamine, cannabis and cocaine. METHODS: Australian hospital separations between 1999/2000 to 2004/05 from the National Hospital Morbidity Dataset (NHMD) with a principal diagnosis of opioids, amphetamine, cannabis or cocaine were included, as were indirect estimates of additional 'drug-caused' separations using aetiological fractions. The costs were estimated using the year-specific case weights and costs for each respective Diagnostic Related Group (DRG). RESULTS: Total constant costs decreased from $50.8 million in 1999/2000 to $43.8 million in 2002/03 then increased to $46.7 million in 2004/05. The initial decrease was driven by a decline in numbers of opioid-related separations (with costs decreasing by $11.5 million) between 1999/2000 and 2001/02. Decreases were evident in separations within the opioid use, dependence and poisoning DRGs. Increases in costs were observed between 1999/00 and 2004/05 for amphetamine (an increase of $2.4 million), cannabis ($1.8 million) and cocaine ($330,000) related separations. Several uncommon but very expensive drug-related separations constituted 12.7% of the total drug-related separations. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Overall, the costs of drug-related hospital separations have decreased by $4.1 million between 1999 and 2005, which is primarily attributable to fewer opioid-related separations. Small reductions in the number of costly separations through harm reduction strategies have the potential to significantly reduce drug-related hospital costs.     

Clinical and economic burden of Clostridium difficile infection in Europe: a systematic review of healthcare-facility-acquired infection

PubMed, EMBASE and conference abstracts were reviewed systematically to determine the clinical and economic burden associated with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) acquired and treated in European healthcare facilities. Inclusion criteria were: published in the English language between 2000 and 2010, and study population of at least 20 patients with documented CDI acquired/treated in European healthcare facilities. Data collection was completed by three unblinded reviewers using the Cochrane Handbook and PRISMA statement. The primary outcomes were mortality, recurrence, length of hospital stay (LOS) and cost related to CDI. In total, 1138 primary articles and conference abstracts were identified, and this was narrowed to 39 and 30 studies, respectively. Data were available from 14 countries, with 47% of studies from UK institutions. CDI mortality at 30 days ranged from 2% (France) to 42% (UK). Mortality rates more than doubled from 1999 to 2004, and continued to rise until 2007 when reductions were noted in the UK. Recurrent CDI varied from 1% (France) to 36% (Ireland); however, recurrence definitions varied between studies. Median LOS ranged from eight days (Belgium) to 27 days (UK). The incremental cost of CDI was ￡4577 in Ireland and ￡8843 in Germany, after standardization to 2010 prices. Country-specific estimates, weighted by sample size, ranged from 2.8% to 29.8% for 30-day mortality and from 16 to 37 days for LOS. CDI burden in Europe was most commonly described using 30-day mortality, recurrence, LOS and cost data. The continued spread of CDI and resultant healthcare burden underscores the need for judicious use of antibiotics.     

Payment policy for chemotherapy in public hospitals: a case for splitting DRG 780/R63Z

OBJECTIVE: To assess the appropriateness of the current way chemotherapy is classified in the Australian casemix classification system. METHOD: Secondary analysis of patient-level data for all cases of DRG 780 separated from Victorian hospitals with clinical costing systems in the years 1994/95, 1995/96 and 1996/97 using the Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) option of Answer Tree Version 2.0. RESULTS: Different cancers have different costs. There is a significant difference (F=316.8, df=4, 11091, p=0.00) between the cost of colon cancer (mean=$289), breast cancer (mean=$481), lymphatic cancer (mean=$605), leukemia (mean=$1,118) and other cancers (mean=$512). The differences are sufficiently large that they meet the statistical criteria for splitting a DRG. CONCLUSION: Application of nationally agreed criteria for creation of Diagnosis Related Groups suggests that the existing DRG 780 should be split into five groups: colon, breast and lymphatic cancers, leukemia and a residual 'other cancers' category. The new groups increase the explanation of variation in costs (about a 10% reduction in variance). IMPLICATIONS: It is no longer valid for casemix development to be based on length of stay as a proxy for resource utilisation, especially for DRGs that are primarily same day.     

Predicting length of stay for Medicare patients at a teaching hospital.

This research examines how the patients' characteristics and clinical indicators affect length of stay for the top five Diagnosis-Related-Groups (DRGs) for Medicare patients at a teaching hospital in the United States. The top DRGs were selected on the basis of volume per year. Teaching hospitals in the United States devote a significant amount of their resources to research and teaching, while providing treatment for patients. The ability to predict length of stay can substantially improve a teaching hospital's capacity utilization, while ensuring that resources are available to meet the health care needs of the Medicare population. Multiple regression models are developed to predict the length of stay using the patients' characteristics and clinical indicators as independent variables. The results indicate that approximately 60 percent (R(2)) of the variance in the length of stay is explained by the patients' characteristics and clinical indicators for these DRGs. The Mortality and Severity indices are found to be the strongest predictors for length of stay in all DRGs. Other patients' characteristics and clinical indicators such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, admission type and admission source are also significant predictors for some DRGs. In addition, most of these variables affect the length of stay in the same manner as shown in previous studies, even though the previous studies do not have the DRG specificity of this study.     

不同分型急性白血病患者医院感染直接经济损失研究

目的探讨急性淋巴细胞白血病(ALL)与急性非淋巴细胞白血病(ANLL)患者医院感染所致的直接经济损失。方法收集2011年1月—2013年12月入住某医院血液病房的所有急性白血病(AL)成年患者,AL患者分别按照医院感染组(病例组)和未感染组(对照组)、ALL组和ANLL组进行1∶1配对,比较各组患者住院费用及住院时间等情况。结果共994例AL患者,其中ALL患者166例,ANLL患者828例,按照配比条件病例组和对照组共纳入181对,ALL组和ANLL组共纳入15对。ALL、ANLL患者医院感染直接经济损失分别为13 089.0、21565.0元;医院感染延长住院时间分别为10.5、10.0 d,病例组与对照组比较,差异均具有统计学意义(均P0.05)。ANLL病例组的总费用、床位费、诊疗费、治疗费、化验费、护理费、西药费、中药费、输血费绝对值均高于ALL对照组,但差异无统计学意义。结论 AL患者发生医院感染可导致住院费用增加,住院时间延长。     

Hospital costs of,and factors contributing to,a pertussis epidemic

Pertussis (whooping cough), a vaccine-preventable and highly infectious respiratory tract disease, caused a major epidemic in Australia during 1997, resulting in large numbers of babies and children being hospitalised. This retrospective study was designed to calculate the costs of this epidemic to a 250-bed paediatric teaching hospital in Western Australia (WA) and discuss the factors contributing to the epidemic.In all, 92 babies and children required 115 hospital admissions for pertussis. Thirteen were admitted to the paediatric or neonatal intensive care unit (P/NICU) at a cost of $229,500 and the 113 ward admissions cost $504,500. In addition, the microbiology diagnostic testing was estimated to cost $200,000. Thus, the real cost to the hospital over the 12-month period was $934,000. The majority of the patients were aged between 2 and 6 months, while all those requiring P/NICU admission were less than 6 months old. The younger the patient the greater the length of stay (average 6.6 days). A comparison was made between patient age, incidence of hospital admission, length of stay and P/NICU admission.When the immunisation compliance rate of inpatienls with pertussis was assessed, only 45 per cent of all those aged more than 2 months were up to date with their pertussis immunisation regime and, for 17 per cent, their immunisation status in the medical records was either lacking or poorly written.This study highlighted the need to improve pertussis immunisation compliance by educating both parents and health professionals regarding expected reactions to, and true contraindications for, pertussis vaccination, as well as for health-care professionals to improve immunisation documentation in the hospital's medical records. (AIC Aust Infect Control 1999; 4(1):15-22.)     

Economic and Utilization Outcomes Associated with Choice of Treatment for Venous Thromboembolism in Hospitalized Patients

OBJECTIVES: Hospital administrative data were analyzed to assess treatment patterns, in-hospital mortality, rates of hemorrhagic events and thrombus propagation, utilization of health care resources, and hospital costs associated with various treatments during inpatient care for venous thromboembolism (VTE). STUDY DESIGN: Data from inpatient records were collected for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) encounters at 132 US hospitals between January 1999 and December 2000. Patients receiving the most frequently employed treatments were compared with respect to demographics, related procedures and diagnostics, length of stay, adverse events, in-hospital mortality, and hospital costs. RESULTS: A total of 953 primary DVT and 3933 primary PE admissions were identified. Most admissions involved treatment with unfractionated heparin and vitamin K antagonist (UFH/VKA, 64.2% of admissions), followed by UFH with VKA and low-molecular-weight heparin (UFH/LMWH/VKA, 14.4%), and LMWH/VKA (12.9%). Compared with those treated with UFH/VKA, patients treated with LMWH/VKA experienced higher anticoagulant costs (dollar 540 vs. dollar 106), but lower total hospital costs (dollar 5198 vs. dollar 5977) and shorter lengths of stay (4.4 vs. 5.7 days for those without PE and 5.7 vs. 6.7 days for those with PE). CONCLUSIONS: UFH/VKA was the most common regimen used to treat VTE. In spite of its higher medication cost, however, treatment with LMWH/VKA was associated with significantly shorter hospital stays and lower total hospitalization costs, compared with UFH/VKA.     

Excess mortality, hospital stay, and cost due to candidemia: a case-control study using data from population-based candidemia surveillance.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the mortality, hospital stay, and total hospital charges and cost of hospitalization attributable to candidemia by comparing patients with candidemia with control-patients who have otherwise similar illnesses. Prior studies lack broad patient and hospital representation or cost-related information that accurately reflects current medical practices. DESIGN: Our case-control study included case-patients with candidemia and their cost-related data, ascertained from laboratory-based candidemia surveillance conducted among all residents of Connecticut and Baltimore and Baltimore County, Maryland, during 1998 to 2000. Control-patients were matched on age, hospital type, admission year, discharge diagnoses, and duration of hospitalization prior to candidemia onset. RESULTS: We identified 214 and 529 sets of matched case-patients and control-patients from the two locations, respectively. Mortality attributable to candidemia ranged between 19% and 24%. On multivariable analysis, candidemia was associated with mortality (OR, 5.3 for Connecticut and 8.5 for Baltimore and Baltimore County; P < .05), whereas receiving adequate treatment was protective (OR, 0.5 and 0.4 for the two locations, respectively; P < .05). Candidemia itself did not increase the total hospital charges and cost of hospitalization; when treatment status was accounted for, having received adequate treatment for candidemia significantly increased the total hospital charges and cost of hospitalization ($6,000 to $29,000 and $3,000 to $22,000, respectively) and the length of stay (3 to 13 days). CONCLUSION: Our findings underscore the burden of candidemia, particularly regarding the risk of death, length of hospitalization, and cost associated with treatment.     

血液肿瘤化疗后粒缺伴发热患者一线经验性抗感染治疗的临床疗效及治疗费用

 目的 评价血液肿瘤化疗后中性粒细胞缺乏（粒缺）伴发热患者两种一线经验性抗感染治疗策略的优劣。方法 回顾性分析2017年8月—2018年12月某院血液肿瘤化疗后粒缺伴发热病例的感染部位及病原菌分布情况,按一线抗感染治疗方案分为以碳青霉烯类药物为主治疗组（碳青霉烯类组）和以含酶β-内酰胺类抗生素为主治疗组（含酶β-内酰胺类组）,对两组病例治疗疗效、住院总费用以及住院日数进行比较。结果 共收集粒缺伴发热的病例103例,其中碳青霉烯类组为71例,含酶β-内酰胺类组32例。最常见的感染部位是呼吸道,其次为血液、胃肠道。检出病原菌47株,革兰阴性菌、革兰阳性菌、真菌分别占68.1%、12.8%、19.1%,以肺炎克雷伯菌占比最高为（25.5%）,其次为大肠埃希菌（21.3%）和铜绿假单胞菌（8.5%）。碳青霉烯类组、含酶β-内酰胺类组患者治疗有效率分别为90.1%、71.9%,住院总费用分别为（59 529.7±39 771.3）、（49 546.9±31 641.1）元,住院日数分别为（28.7±7.9）、（26.2±6.3）d,两组治疗有效率比较,差异有统计学意义（P=0.038）,两组患者住院总费用、住院日数比较,差异均无统计学意义（均P>0.05）。结论 对血液肿瘤化疗后粒缺伴发热的患者,一线经验性应用碳青霉烯类为主的药物抗感染治疗的疗效优于应用含酶β-内酰胺类为主的药物,两组住院总费用以及住院日数差异不明显。     

Comparison of hospital costing methods in an economic evaluation of a multinational clinical trial

OBJECTIVES: To develop and evaluate strategies for estimating hospitalization costs in multinational clinical trials. METHODS: Hospital cost estimates for eleven diagnoses were collected from twelve countries participating in a trial of therapies for congestive heart failure. Estimates were combined with U.S.-based diagnosis-related group weights to compute country-specific unit cost estimates for all reasons for hospitalization. Variations of hospital costing methods were developed. The unit cost method assigns a country-specific unit cost estimate to each hospitalization. The other methods adjust for length of stay using a daily cost (DC) estimate for each diagnosis, based on either the mean length of stay (DC-mean method) or the median length of stay (DC-median method) for each diagnosis in each country. Additional modifications were explored through adjustment of the distribution of daily costs incurred during a hospital stay. RESULTS: The mean cost for all hospitalizations was dollars 10,242 (SD, 10,042) using the unit cost method, dollars 10,242 (SD, 12,760) using the standard DC-mean method, and dollars 13,967 (SD, 18,762) using the standard DC-median method. In comparisons of costs for all 5,486 hospitalizations incurred by a subset of 2,352 patients in the trial, the unit cost method provided 92% power to detect a dollars 1,000 cost difference. The standard DC-mean method provided 76% power, and the standard DC-median method provided 44% power. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital costing methods that adjust for differences in length of stay require a significantly larger sample to attain comparable statistical power as methods that assign unadjusted unit cost estimates to hospitalization events.     

Cost of intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections

Intensive care unit-acquired (ICU-acquired) bloodstream infections (BSI) are an important complication of critical illness. The objective of this study was to quantify the excess length of stay, mortality and cost attributable to ICU-acquired BSI. A matched cohort study was conducted in all adult ICUs in the Calgary Health Region between 1 May 2000 and 30 April 2003. One hundred and forty-four patients with ICU-acquired BSI were matched (1:1) to patients without ICU-acquired BSI. Patients with ICU-acquired BSI had a significantly increased median length of ICU stay {15.5 [interquartile range (IQR) 8-26] days vs 12 [IQR 7-18.5] days, P=0.003} and median costs of hospital care [85,137 dollars (IQR 45,740-131,412 dollars) vs 67,879 dollars (IQR 35,043-115,915 dollars, P=0.02) compared with patients without ICU-acquired BSI. The median excess length of ICU stay was two days and the median cost attributable to ICU-acquired BSI was 12,321 dollars per case. Sixty (42%) of the cases died compared with 37 (26%) of the controls [P=0.002, attributable mortality 16%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.9-26.0%]. Patients with ICU-acquired BSI were at increased risk for in-hospital death (odds ratio=2.64, 95%CI 1.40-5.29). Among survivor-matched pairs, the median excess lengths of ICU and hospital stay attributable to development of ICU-acquired BSI were two and 13.5 days, respectively, and the attributable cost due to ICU-acquired BSI was 25,155 dollars per case survivor. Critically ill patients who develop ICU-acquired BSI suffer excess morbidity and mortality, and incur significantly increased healthcare costs. These data support expenditures on infection prevention and control programmes and further research into reducing the impact of these infections.