OBJECTIVES To describe total and average hospital charges associated with infectious disease (ID) hospitalizations and specific ID categories and to estimate ID hospitalization rates in adults aged 65 and older in the United States from 1998 through 2004. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of hospital discharge data obtained from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for 1998 through 2004. SETTING Uni...

BACKGROUND In 2013 the United States spent $2.9 trillion on health care, more than in any previous year. Much of the debate around slowing health care spending growth focuses on the complicated pricing system for services. Our investigation contributes to knowledge of health care spending by assessing the relationship between charges and payments in the inpatient hospital setting. In the US, ch...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To determine the hospital mortality rates associated with elective surgical clipping and endovascular coiling of unruptured intracranial aneurysms. METHODS We identified a cohort of patients electively admitted to US hospitals with the diagnosis of unruptured intracranial aneurysm from the National Inpatient Sample database for the years 2000 through 2006. Patient demog...

OBJECTIVE To assess the proportion of, and reasons for, households not utilising the policy of free healthcare for children under 6 years of age (FCCU6) for hospitalisation with diarrhoea, and assess the risk of catastrophic expenditure for households that forgo FCCU6 and pay out of pocket. METHODS Invoices detailing insurance information and charges incurred from 472 hospitalised diarrhoeal ...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether laparoscopic splenectomy (LS) is a safe, cost-effective alternative to open splenectomy (OS). DESIGN Retrospective comparison and economic evaluation. SETTING Tertiary care children's hospital. PATIENTS Children with hematologic disease involving the spleen. INTERVENTIONS Laparoscopic splenectomy (10 patients); OS (10 patients). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Saf...

We used 2008-2009 physician and hospital charges to estimate the direct cost of medical care per case of pelvic inflammatory disease. The estimated average total charge per episode was $3,025 (SD: $4155). The estimated average charge for patients treated in ambulatory (outpatient clinic and emergency department) settings was $7440 lower than for those treated on inpatient units.

BACKGROUND Though past studies have shown wide variation in aggregate hospital price indices and specific procedures, few have documented or explained such variation for distinct and common episodes of care. OBJECTIVES We sought to examine the variability in charges for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a drug-eluting stent and without major complications (MS-DRG-247), and determi...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to characterize health care costs associated with diabetic lower-extremity ulcers. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Adult patients with diabetes who had a lower-extremity ulcer episode during 2000 and 2001 were identified using claims data. Ulcer-related direct health care costs were computed for each episode. Episodes were stratified according to severity...

BACKGROUND Although most research on patients with acute heart failure syndrome (AHFS) has focused on readmissions, this may provide an incomplete picture of health-care utilization. We examined the proportion and characteristics of patients with frequent emergency department (ED) visits for AHFS and associated health-care utilization. METHODS AND RESULTS A retrospective cohort study of adult...

Though Americans make 1.8 million asthma-related outpatient visits to the emergency department (ED) annually, little is known about the episodic charges for asthma care in the ED. We therefore sought to assess the bills patients could face for acute asthma incidents by examining hospital charges for asthma-related outpatient ED visits. We performed a nationwide, cross-sectional study of 2.9 mil...