A Cross-National Study of Differences in Length of Stay of Patients With Cardiac Diagnoses

To determine the reason for large regional differences in average hospital length of stay shown in federal discharge abstract data, the medical records of 482 cardiac patients from hospitals belonging to two metropolitan area PSROs of Baltimore, Maryland, and 438 cardiac patients from hospitals in the Metropolitan area PSRO from Portland, Oregon, were reviewed, stratified by diagnosis and complications, and compared for length of stay. Cardiac patients were hospitalized between 2.5 and 7 days longer in Baltimore than in Portland. Federal data on length of hospital stay were basically correct for the diagnostic categories studied. Length-of-stay differences could not be explained by patient differences and appeared to be due to differences in physician practice patterns

Hospital discharge · Intensive care medicine · Medical diagnosis · Medical emergency · Medical record · Metropolitan area · Pathology · Chronic Disease Management Strategies · Emergency and Acute Care Studies · Emergency Medicine · Healthcare Policy and Management · Internal Medicine · Medicine

• Variations in physicians' hospitalization practices

  N P Roos, Mussa Uld Ebnu et al.•American Journal of Public Health•1986

  Incluir item

• Fitting the Distributions of Length of Stay by Parametric Models

  Alfio Marazzi, Fred Paccaud et al.•Medical Care•1998

  Incluir item

• Design and analysis

  Geoffrey Keppel•Design and analysis•1982

  Incluir item