OBJECTIVES: To describe the early financial results of an organized hip fracture program for older adults. DESIGN: Retrospective evaluation of financial data for a 1-year period on a hip fracture program for older adults. SETTING: University medical center. PATIENTS: All 193 adults older than age 60 with a native, nonpathologic hip fracture admitted to the hospital and surgically treated from May 2005 to April 2006 were included as subjects in this study. INTERVENTION: The comanaged, protocol-driven fracture management program was used as the specific intervention for treating all patients with hip fractures. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome was profit or loss resulting from treatment of patients. Key quality measures studied included length of hospital stay, mortality rates, complication rates, and hospital readmission rates. RESULTS: With use of an organized program, substantial savings in nearly all areas of expenditure is demonstrated. Adjusting for patient characteristics, costs are demonstrated to be 66.7% of the expected costs nationally. The length of stay, mortality, complication rates, and readmission rates were all noted to be below national averages. CONCLUSIONS: The improved quality measures suggest that better quality of patient care is associated with reduced costs.
OBJECTIVES: To describe the early financial results of an organized hip fracture program for older adults. DESIGN: Retrospective evaluation of financial data for a 1-year period on a hip fracture program for older adults. SETTING: University medical center. PATIENTS: All 193 adults older than age 60 with a native, nonpathologic hip fracture admitted to the hospital and surgically treated from May 2005 to April 2006 were included as subjects in this study. INTERVENTION: The comanaged, protocol-driven fracture management program was used as the specific intervention for treating all patients with hip fractures. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome was profit or loss resulting from treatment of patients. Key quality measures studied included length of hospital stay, mortality rates, complication rates, and hospital readmission rates. RESULTS: With use of an organized program, substantial savings in nearly all areas of expenditure is demonstrated. Adjusting for patient characteristics, costs are demonstrated to be 66.7% of the expected costs nationally. The length of stay, mortality, complication rates, and readmission rates were all noted to be below national averages. CONCLUSIONS: The improved quality measures suggest that better quality of patient care is associated with reduced costs.
Authors: Ernst J Müller; Ingeborg Gerstorfer; Peter Dovjak; Bernhard Iglseder; Georg Pinter; Walter Müller; Katharina Pils; Peter Mikosch; Michaela Zmaritz; Monique Weissenberger-Leduc; Markus Gosch; Heinrich W Thaler Journal: Wien Med Wochenschr Date: 2013-11-08