Comparison of medical costs and care of appendectomy patients between fee-for-service and set fee for diagnosis-related group systems in 20 chinese hospitals.
The objective of this study was to compare the fee-for-service and set
fee for diagnosis-related group systems with regard to quality of medical care
and cost to appendectomy patients. We conducted a retrospective study of 208
inpatients (from 20 hospitals) who undergone appendectomy in Changsha, China
during 2013. Data were obtained from databases of medical insurance information
systems directly connected to the hospital information systems. We collected
and compared patient ages, length of study, and total medical costs for impatient
appendectomies between patients using fee-for-service and set fee for diagnosisrelated
group systems. One hundred thirty-three patients used the fee for service
system and 75 used the set fee diagnosis related group system. For those using
the diagnosis-related group system, the mean length of hospitalization (6.2 days)
and mean number of prescribed antimicrobials (2.4) per patient were significantly
lower than those of the patients who used the fee-for-service system (7.3 days
and 3.0, respectively; p = 0.018; p < 0.05) and were accompanied by lower medical
costs and cost of antimicrobials (RMB 2,518 versus RMB 4,484 and RMB476 versus
RMB1,108, respectively; p = 0.000, p = 0.000). There were no significant differences
in post-surgical complications between the two systems. The diagnosis-related
group system had significantly medical costs for appendectomy compared to the
fee-for-service system, without sacrificing quality of medical care.
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Source: Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health - Category: Tropical Medicine Tags: Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health Source Type: research
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