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Quality of care delivered by fee-for-service and DRG hospitals in Switzerland in patients with community-acquired pneumonia

Schuetz, Philipp and Albrich, Werner C. and Suter, Isabelle and Hug, Balthasar L. and Christ-Crain, Mirjam and Holler, Thomas and Henzen, Christoph and Krause, Martin and Schoenenberger, Ronald and Zimmerli, Werner and Mueller, Beat. (2011) Quality of care delivered by fee-for-service and DRG hospitals in Switzerland in patients with community-acquired pneumonia. Swiss Medical Weekly, 141. w13228.

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Abstract

PRINCIPLES: Reimbursement for inpatient treatment in Switzerland is in transition. While hospitals in some cantons already use Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) based systems for hospital financing, others use fee-for-service (FFS) based systems, a situation that provides the opportunity to perform a head-to-head comparison between the two reimbursement systems. The aim of this analysis was to compare reimbursement systems with regard to length of hospital stay (LOS) and patient outcomes in a cohort of community-acquired pneumonia patients from a previous prospective multicentre study in Switzerland.
METHODS: This is a post-hoc analysis of 925 patients with community-acquired pneumonia from a previous randomised-controlled trial. We calculated multivariate regression models adjusted for age, gender, comorbidities and severity of illness (using the Pneumonia Severity Index) and accounting for clustering within hospitals to compare LOS and outcomes between FFS (n = 4) or DRG hospitals (n = 2).
RESULTS: LOS in DRG hospitals was significantly shorter compared to FFS hospitals (8.4 vs 10.3 days, absolute difference 1.9 days [95%CI 0.8-3.1]). This was confirmed in multivariate adjusted Cox models (hazard ratio 1.2 [95% 1.1-1.3]). There were no differences in 30-day and 18-month mortality rates (adjusted odds ratio 1.7 [95% 0.9-3.2] and 1.3 [95% 0.9-1.9]) or recurrence rates within 30 days (adjusted odds ratio 0.8 [95% 0.4-1.7]). Also, no differences were found in the rate of still ongoing clinical symptoms at 30 days, satisfaction with the discharge process and quality of life measures at 30 days of follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS: This study focusing on community-acquired pneumonia patients with different severities found a 20% shorter LOS in hospitals with DRG financing compared to FFS hospitals without apparent harmful effects on patient outcomes, satisfaction with care and different quality of life measures. Further studies are required to validate these findings for other medical and surgical patient populations.
Faculties and Departments:03 Faculty of Medicine > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Allgemeine innere Medizin AG > Argovia Professur für Medizin (Müller)
03 Faculty of Medicine > Departement Klinische Forschung > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Allgemeine innere Medizin AG > Argovia Professur für Medizin (Müller)
03 Faculty of Medicine > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Ehemalige Einheiten Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Allgemeine innere Medizin Liestal (Zimmerli)
03 Faculty of Medicine > Departement Klinische Forschung > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Ehemalige Einheiten Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Allgemeine innere Medizin Liestal (Zimmerli)
03 Faculty of Medicine > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Ehemalige Einheiten Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Stationäre innere Medizin (Schifferli)
03 Faculty of Medicine > Departement Klinische Forschung > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Ehemalige Einheiten Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Stationäre innere Medizin (Schifferli)
03 Faculty of Medicine > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Endokrinologie / Diabetologie > Endokrinologie (Christ-Crain)
03 Faculty of Medicine > Departement Klinische Forschung > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Endokrinologie / Diabetologie > Endokrinologie (Christ-Crain)
UniBasel Contributors:Zimmerli, Werner and Müller, Beat and Christ-Crain, Mirjam and Hug, Balthasar L.
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag
ISSN:1424-7860
e-ISSN:1424-3997
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Language:English
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Last Modified:12 Jun 2018 13:46
Deposited On:13 Sep 2013 07:49

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