Relationship of hospital volume to patient mortality, length of stay and total costs in patients receiving brain surgery for cancer: A nationwide analysis
Abstract
Better morbidity and mortality outcomes associated with increased hospital procedural volume have been demonstrated across a number of different medical procedures. Existence of such a volume-outcome relationship is posited to lead to increased specialization of care, such that patients requiring specific procedures are funneled to physicians and hospitals that achieve a minimum volume of such procedures each year. In this study, the 2009 Nationwide Inpatient Sample is used to examine the relationship between hospital volume and patient outcome among patients undergoing procedures related to malignant brain cancer. Multiple regression models were used to examine the impact of hospital volume on length of inpatient stay and cost of inpatient stay; logistic regression was used to examine the impact of hospital volume on morbidity. Hospital volume was found to be a significant predictor of both length of stay and cost of stay. Hospital volume was associated with a lower length of stay, but was also associated with increased costs. Hospital volume was not found to be a statistically significant predictor of morbidity, though less than three percent of this sample died while in the hospital. Volume is indeed a significant predictor of outcome for procedures related to brain malignancies, though further research regarding the cost of such procedures is recommended.
Subject Area
Public health|Health care management
Recommended Citation
Beel, Michael, "Relationship of hospital volume to patient mortality, length of stay and total costs in patients receiving brain surgery for cancer: A nationwide analysis" (2012). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI3540868.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI3540868