This paper compares uninsured hospital patients with privately insured patients in terms of severity of illness on admission, emergency department use, leaving the hospital against medical advice, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality and morbidity rates. This cross-sectional study includes 29,237 admissions to 100 US hospitals in 1993 and 1994. We found that uninsured patients are sicker, indicating that hospitals should expect uninsured patients to have increased service needs. Our results indicate that the uninsured exhibit higher likelihood of leaving against medical advice, shorter lengths of stay and poorer health outcomes suggest that the uninsured may not be receiving necessary care. Further studies are needed.

This paper compares uninsured hospital patients with privately insured patients in terms of severity of illness on admission, emergency department use, leaving the hospital against medical advice, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality and morbidity rates. This cross-sectional study includes 29,237 admissions to 100 US hospitals in 1993 and 1994. We found that uninsured patients are sicker, indicating that hospitals should expect uninsured patients to have increased service needs. Our results indicate that the uninsured exhibit higher likelihood of leaving against medical advice, shorter lengths of stay and poorer health outcomes suggest that the uninsured may not be receiving necessary care. Further studies are needed.

This study examines the effect of Independent Practice Association (IPA) HMO membership on hospital total charges, ancillary charges and length of stay (LOS) for surgical patients. Intrahospital comparisons of IPA and traditional insurance patients are made after adjusting for surgical procedure, admission severity of illness, age, sex and year of admission. Our multiple regression model indicates that IPA patients undergoing 12 frequently occurring surgical procedures have lower resource use. Eight (80%) of the 10 study hospitals exhibit a negative IPA beta coefficient for total charges, ancillary charges and LOS. Five (50%) hospitals have statistically significant (p < 0.05) negative coefficients for total charges, while one (10%) hospital has a significant positive coefficient. IPA patients exhibit adjusted total charges that are 6% lower than traditional insurance, ancillary charges that are 4.3% lower, and LOS that is 10% shorter.

This study investigates the factors associated with the probability of finding specific clinical indicators (benign or malignant tumor, cancer in situ, fibroid, abscess/empyema, or positive culture of salpinx, fallopian tube, fetus, or uterus) that validate necessity for hysterectomy. Data for the 4,660 cases in the study come from 42 Pennsylvania hospitals. The probability that validating indicators were present varied significantly at the hospital level but not at the level of individual surgeons within hospital, suggesting that physicians in different hospitals adopted different practice styles. The results at the hospital level indicate that higher hysterectomy volume increased the probability of validating findings, whereas presence of an OB/GYN program was associated with lower probability of validating findings. The policy and management implications of these results are discussed.

This study examines the variation among 36 Pennsylvania hospitals, and the individual surgeons practicing in them, in the proportion of appendectomy, cholecystectomy and intervertebral disc excision patients with clinical findings in the hospital record that validate the need for surgery. Using admissions from January 1990 through June 1991, we performed logistic regressions on the probability of validating clinical findings controlling for patient age, sex, admission severity of illness, and Medicaid and Health Maintenance Organization membership. Our results show that hospitals, and surgeons, vary significantly in their validation rates for cholecystectomy and disc surgery and, to a lesser extent, appendectomy. We also found that increased procedure-specific volume at both the hospital and surgeon levels is not related to the odds of validating clinical findings. We define a future research agenda to investigate the reasons for the observed differences among hospitals and among surgeons.