Linked Life Data

9671014

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/9671014

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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
1998-8-5
pubmed:abstractText
In 614 consecutive hospitalizations with the primary discharge diagnosis of diagnosis-related group (DRG) 127 (heart failure and shock), we sought to assess the effect of caregiver specialty (generalist, n = 217; cardiologist, n = 397) on hospital costs, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality. Patients treated by cardiologists were younger (68 vs 71 years) and less likely to have hypertension (52% vs 61%), but were more likely to be men (61% vs 44%), require an intensive care stay (13% vs 5%), have coronary artery disease (49% vs 23%), have a left ventricular ejection fraction <40% (74% vs 49%), and have lower systolic (132 vs 146 mm Hg) and diastolic (76 vs 81 mm Hg) blood pressures on admission. Predictors of acute disease severity were similarly distributed between the 2 groups. No difference was found between patients treated by cardiologists versus those treated by generalists with respect to crude or adjusted hospital cost, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality. However, in subsets of patients who required intensive care during hospitalization (n = 64), as well as those who did not (n = 550), care by cardiologists was associated with a lower adjusted hospital cost. Any potential cost savings that could have accrued from care by cardiologists was, however, negated by the higher proportion of patients treated by cardiologists who required intensive care during hospitalization. We conclude that when differences in clinical variables are adjusted, care by cardiologists versus generalists is associated with similar or lower hospital cost for patients with DRG 127. Our findings challenge the notion that in-patient care provided by specialists is more expensive than that provided by generalists.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
AIM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jul
pubmed:issn
0002-9149
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
1
pubmed:volume
82
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
82-5
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1998
pubmed:articleTitle
Effects of caregiver specialty on cost and clinical outcomes following hospitalization for heart failure.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Cardiology, Ochsner Medical Institutions, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article