Estimating the financial savings from maintaining the level of acute services with fewer hospital beds

All district health authorities are obliged to use resources most efficiently. One approach to increasing efficiency is to identify measures which allow service levels, in terms of patients treated and standards of care, to be maintained at a lower cost. This could be achieved by maintaining service levels with fewer hospital beds. Reducing lengths of stay by removing organizational delays and expansions of day-case care, are policies which can increase patient caseload per bed. This paper puts forward an approach for estimating the resources released by such policies and assesses the savings achieved by realizing efficiency gains identified in a previous study by Beech et al. (1987). That study identified significant potential for maintaining services with fewer beds, with the expansion of day-case care being a key mechanism. However this paper concludes that when services are maintained with fewer beds, the vast majority of hospital costs remain fixed. It also reaches the alarming conclusion that as a vehicle for reducing costs, day-case care is much less effective than previous studies have implied. However, increasing hospital throughput per bed does release capacity to treat more patients. The proposed reforms of the NHS (Secretaries of State, 1989) envisage an internal market for health care, allowing hospitals to enter into contracts with purchasers of health care. The approach to costing described in this paper is applicable to assessing the increased costs associated with such developments. These extra costs can then be compared with expected income.     

手外伤所致经济损失的流行病学研究

目的 研究手外伤所致经济损失以及在不同类型手外伤中的分布。方法 对１９９８年１月在上海医科大学附属华山医院就诊的１６０例急诊手外伤患者进行问卷调查,并在伤后４周进行随访。结果 患者的平均年龄为３６．３岁;２０～５０岁的青壮年占６３．１％;男女性别比为２．０８：１。工作时发生的手外伤占３６．３％;６２．７％的患者月收入在１０００元以下。手外伤所造成的人均经济损失为１１３１．５元,其中生活性手外伤为９     

部队甲型病毒性肝炎疫苗的接种策略

目的 探讨部队甲肝疫苗接种的最佳策略。方法 应用决策树模型和成本效用分析方法。结果 部队官兵接种甲肝疫苗,先筛选后接种方案优于直接接种方案;采用先筛选后接种方案接种干部每增加一个DALY将产生168.23元的正效益,而新兵则需2792.30元的净投入。经灵敏度分析,该决策结果稳定,不随引入决策模型的各参数的变化而变化。结论 在当前条件下,部队接种甲肝疫苗宜首选先筛选后接种方案,优先接种干部人群。     

Single-agent high-dose melphalan salvage therapy for Hodgkin's disease: Cost, safety, and long-term efficacy

Background: Few data are available on the cost, safety, and long-termefficacy of single agent high-dose melphalan (HDM) followed by autologousbone marrow (ABMT) or blood stem cell (ABSCT) transplantation in the salvagetherapy of Hodgkins disease (HD).Patients and methods: From February 1981 to September 1996, 23 patientswith relapsed (n = 15) or refractory (n = 8) HD received salvage therapywith HDM 140–200 mg/m² followed by non-cryopreservedABMT (n = 18) or cryopreserved ABSCT (n = 5). The cost of HDM/ABSCT in 1996,from initial consultation until transfer back to referring physician, wasdetermined and compared to the estimated costs of two multi-agent regimenscommonly used for HD.Results: HDM was well tolerated with no early transplant-relatedmortality. The five-year overall and progression-free survival rates were52% and 50%, respectively. The average total cost in Canadianfunds of HDM/ABSCT in 1996 was $34,400/patient. This cost wasestimated to be $4,700–6,800 cheaper per patient than themulti-agent high-dose regimens.Conclusion: These data suggest that HDM is safe, feasible, active, andreasonably inexpensive salvage therapy for patients with relapsed/refractoryHD.     

Clinical Benchmark for Gastric Stapling Procedures

To help answer the call to cut costs of surgical care, hospitals and physicians have joined to compare methods of care for the more common Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) diagnoses to form a Benchmark. Since many bariatric surgeons are the only ones performing this surgery in their primary hospitals, they do not have two or more surgical routines for comparison. This presentation compares data for the preoperative work-up, operating-room, and methods of postoperative care used by 29 members of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS). There was representation of both academic and private surgeons and hospitals. To target areas for possible savings, the hospital bills of 16 patients without complication were compared. The synthesis of this information revealed significant differences in the extent and cost of preoperative work-up, antibiotic coverage, other postoperative care, and length of stay. These differences are examined under the assumption that patient outcome was the same.     

Economic study of neutropenia induced by myelotoxic chemotherapy

This article describes the economic and social impact of nutropenia induced by myelotoxic chemotherapy in patients with cancer during the period 1 January–31 December 1991. Neutropenia is a life-threatening complication of chemotherapy in patients with cancer. The episodes of (ever and infections originating from neutropenia require hospitalization of the patient until the granulocyte levels are restored. The calculation of the economic cost was based on the following parameters: length of stay in hospital, analytical tests performed on the patient, type and cost of drug therapy administered, blood transfusions performed, health assistance received, cost of isolation and absence from work. The overall economic cost of neutropenia in patients with cancer reached 329,775 pesetas ($2,893). Cost of the health-care staff was the largest budget item in relation to the total health resources estimated.     

部分手术类项目标准成本分析

对6个手术类医疗服务项目进行了标准成本测算,分析了其成本构成,并与全国的实际成本平均水平进行了比较。建议政府以标准成本作为调整医疗服务价格的依据,同时,建议医院在加强手术室成本管理时应着重加强医用材料的管理。     

Perceptions on the influence of cost issues on quality improvement initiatives: a survey of Saudi health care managers.

OBJECTIVE: To determine (i) the cost issues which Saudi health care managers perceive to influence overall quality improvement initiatives, and (ii) the relationship between health care managers' satisfaction with such initiatives and their perceptions regarding the influence of different cost issues on the overall quality improvement initiatives. DESIGN: Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire in August and September 1996 in the Western Region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The participants were 236 health care managers of private hospitals. Data was analysed using the chi2 test. RESULTS: Less than one-half of the health care managers surveyed were satisfied with their hospitals' overall quality improvement initiatives. The issue that was rated to have the most influence on such initiatives was the 'cost of malpractice lawsuits' followed by the budget for the quality assurance programme'. The issue that was perceived to have the least influence on overall quality improvement initiatives was 'data on cost allocation'. Of the 17 cost issues included in the study, eight had statistically significant influence on the health care managers' satisfaction with their hospitals' overall quality improvement initiatives. The most statistically significant was the 'measurement of the costs of quality-related actions'.     

儿童接种肾综合征出血热Ⅰ型灭活疫苗的成本效益和效果分析

采用建德市肾综合征出血热Ⅰ型灭活疫苗效果考核现场资料,计算５～９岁和１０～１４岁各年龄组的效益费用比（ＢＣＲ）和效果费用比（ＣＥＲ）。结果各年龄组ＢＣＲ和ＣＥＲ均小于１或大于０;５～９岁年龄组儿童接种疫苗后的ＣＥＲ和预防一个病人的费用是１０～１４岁年龄组的一倍左右。结论：可在高发区１０～１４岁儿童中开展ＨＦＲＳ疫苗预防接种。