Fee-for-service hospitals closing LOS gap
Fee-for-service hospitals closing LOS gap
Hospitals in areas with low managed care penetration are quickly catching up with high-managed-care counterparts when it comes to reducing costs and lengths of stay (LOS), according to a new study released by the Columbus, OH-based Center for Healthcare Industry Performance Studies (CHIPS).
The study, contained in CHIPS’ 1998 Procedures Resource Book: A Guide to Inpatient Surgical Procedures, used Medicare data to analyze costs and LOS for the 65 highest-volume surgical procedures. Susan White, PhD, lead author of the study, says that in 1993, the gap between high- and low-managed-care facilities for the 65 procedures was an average of 1.91 days. In 1996, that figure had dropped to 1.11 days. Over the same time period, average costs per case at low-managed-care hospitals dropped from $9,131 to $8,602, while costs at high-managed-care hospitals fell from $8,455 to $8,092.
White says low-managed-care facilities are beginning to pull even in terms of cost containment because of the "trend toward restrictive reimbursement patterns throughout the industry. Facilities in areas with high managed care penetration reduced their lengths of stay long ago and now are faced with many contracts based on a per-diem rate, causing their lengths of stay to stabilize."
To order a copy of the Procedures Resource Book, contact CHIPS at (800) 859-2447. The company’s Web address is http://www.chipsonline.com.
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