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Aim: To report revolutionary reorganization of academic gastroenterology division from COVID-19 pandemic surge at metropolitan Detroit epicenter from 0 infected patients on March 9, 2020, to > 300 infected patients in hospital census in April 2020 and > 200 infected patients in April 2021., Setting: GI Division, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, has 36 GI clinical faculty; performs > 23,000 endoscopies annually; fully accredited GI fellowship since 1973; employs > 400 house staff annually since 1995; tertiary academic hospital; predominantly voluntary attendings; and primary teaching hospital, Oakland-University-Medical-School., Methods: This was a prospective study. Expert opinion. Personal experience includes Hospital GI chief > 14 years until 2020; GI fellowship program director, several hospitals > 20 years; author of > 300 publications in peer-reviewed GI journals; committee-member, Food-and-Drug-Administration-GI-Advisory Committee > 5 years; and key hospital/medical school committee memberships. Computerized PubMed literature review was performed on hospital changes and pandemic. Study was exempted/approved by Hospital IRB, April 14, 2020., Results: Division reorganized patient care to add clinical capacity and minimize risks to staff of contracting COVID-19 infection. Affiliated medical school changes included: changing "live" to virtual lectures; canceling medical student GI electives; exempting medical students from treating COVID-19-infected patients; and graduating medical students on time despite partly missing clinical electives. Division was reorganized by changing "live" GI lectures to virtual lectures; four GI fellows temporarily reassigned as medical attendings supervising COVID-19-infected patients; temporarily mandated intubation of COVID-19-infected patients for esophagogastroduodenoscopy; postponing elective GI endoscopies; and reducing average number of endoscopies from 100 to 4 per weekday during pandemic peak! GI clinic visits reduced by half (postponing non-urgent visits), and physical visits replaced by virtual visits. Economic pandemic impact included temporary, hospital deficit subsequently relieved by federal grants; hospital employee terminations/furloughs; and severe temporary decline in GI practitioner's income during surge. Hospital temporarily enhanced security and gradually ameliorated facemask shortage. GI program director contacted GI fellows twice weekly to ameliorate pandemic-induced stress. Divisional parties held virtually. GI fellowship applicants interviewed virtually. Graduate medical education changes included weekly committee meetings to monitor pandemic-induced changes; program managers working from home; canceling ACGME annual fellowship survey, changing ACGME physical to virtual site visits; and changing national conventions from physical to virtual., Conclusion: Reports profound and pervasive GI divisional changes to maximize clinical resources devoted to COVID-19-infected patients and minimize risks of transmitting infection., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The steady growth of corporate interest and influence in the health care sector over the past few decades has created a more business-oriented health care system in the United States, helping to spur for-profit and private equity investment. Proponents say that this trend makes the health care system more efficient, encourages innovation, and provides financial stability to ensure access and improve care. Critics counter that such moves favor profit over care and erode the patient-physician relationship. American College of Physicians (ACP) underscores that physicians are permitted to earn a reasonable income as long as they are fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility to provide high-quality, appropriate care within the guardrails of medical professionalism and ethics. In this position paper, ACP considers the effect of mergers, integration, private equity investment, nonprofit hospital requirements, and conversions from nonprofit to for-profit status on patients, physicians, and the health care system.

Objective: The California Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program (DSRIP) provided incentive payments to Designated Public Hospitals (DPHs) to improve quality of care. We assessed the program's impact on reductions in sepsis mortality, central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), venous thromboembolisms (VTEs), and hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs)., Data Sources: We used 2009-2014 discharge data from California hospitals., Study Design: We used a pre-post study design with a comparison group. We constructed propensity scores and used them to assign inverse probability weights according to their similarity to DPH discharges. Interaction term coefficients of time trends and treatment group provided significance testing., Data Extraction: We used Patient Safety Indicators for CLABSI, HAPU, and VTE, and constructed a sepsis mortality measure., Principal Findings: Discharges from DPHs and non-DPHs both saw decreases in the four outcomes over the DSRIP period (2010-2014). The difference-in-difference estimator (DD) for sepsis was only significant during two time periods, comparing 2010 with 2012 (DD: -2.90 percent, 95% CI: -5.08, -0.72 percent) and 2010 with 2014 (DD: -5.74, 95% CI: -8.76 percent, -2.72 percent); the DD estimator was not significant comparing 2010 with 2012 (DD: -1.30, 95% CI: -3.18 percent, 0.58 percent) or comparing 2010 with 2013 (DD: -3.05 percent, 95% CI: -6.50 percent, 0.40 percent). For CLABSI, we did not find any meaningful differences between DPHs and non-DPHs across the four time periods. For HAPU and VTE, the only significant DD estimator compared 2014 with 2010., Conclusions: We did not find that DPHs participating in DSRIP outperformed non-DPHs during the DSRIP program. Our results were robust to multiple sensitivity analyses. Given multiple concurrent inpatient safety initiatives, it was challenging to assign improvements over time periods to DSRIP., (© 2020 Health Research and Educational Trust.)

Most hospital payment systems based on diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) provide payments for newly approved technologies. In Germany, they are negotiated between individual hospitals and health insurances. The aim of our study is to assess the functioning of temporary reimbursement mechanisms. We used multilevel logistic regression to examine factors at the hospital and state levels that are associated with agreeing innovation payments. Dependent variable was whether or not a hospital had successfully negotiated innovation payments in 2013 (n = 1532). Using agreement data of the yearly budget negotiations between each German hospital and representatives of the health insurances, the study comprises all German acute hospitals and innovation payments on all diagnoses. In total, 32.9% of the hospitals successfully negotiated innovation payments in 2013. We found that the chance of receiving innovation payments increased if the hospital was located in areas with a high degree of competition and if they were large, had university status and were private for-profit entities. Our study shows an implicit self-controlled selection of hospitals receiving innovation payments. While implicitly encouraging safety of patient care, policy makers should favour a more direct and transparent process of distributing innovation payments in prospective payment systems.

Postoperative complications (PC) are a basic health outcome, but no surgery service in the world records and/or audits the PC associated with all the surgical procedures it performs. Most studies that have assessed the cost of PC suffer from poor quality and a lack of transparency and consistency. The payment system in place often rewards the volume of services provided rather than the quality of patients' clinical outcomes. Without a thorough registration of PC, the economic costs involved cannot be determined. An accurate, reliable appraisal would help identify areas for investment in order to reduce the incidence of PC, improve surgical results, and bring down the economic costs. This article describes how to quantify and classify PC using the Clavien-Dindo classification and the comprehensive complication index, discusses the perspectives from which economic evaluations are performed and the minimum postoperative follow-up established, and makes various recommendations. The availability of accurate and impartially audited data on PC will help reduce their incidence and bring down costs. Patients, the health authorities, and society as a whole are sure to benefit., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare., (©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Medicaid expansion was widely expected to alleviate the financial stresses faced by hospitals by providing additional revenue in the form of Medicaid reimbursements from patients previously receiving uncompensated care. Among nonprofit hospitals, which receive tax-exempt status in part because of their provision of uncompensated care, Medicaid expansion could have released hospital funds toward other community benefit activities., Objective: To examine changes in nonprofit hospital spending on community benefit activities after Medicaid expansion., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used difference-in-differences analysis of 1666 US nonprofit hospitals that filed Internal Revenue Service Form 990 Schedule H detailing their community benefit expenditures between 2011 and 2017. The analysis was conducted from February to September 2019., Exposures: State Medicaid expansion between 2011 and 2017., Main Outcomes and Measures: Percentage of hospital operating expenditures attributable to charity care and subsidized care, bad debt (ie, unreimbursed spending for care of patients who did not apply for charity care), unreimbursed Medicaid spending, noncare direct community spending, and total community benefit spending., Results: Of 1478 hospitals in the sample in 2011, nearly half (653 [44.2%]) were small hospitals with fewer than 100 beds, and nearly 70% of hospitals (1023 [69.2%]) were in urban areas. Among the 1666 nonprofit hospitals, Medicaid expansion was associated with a decrease in spending on charity care and subsidized care (-0.68 [95% CI, -0.99 to -0.37] percentage points from a baseline mean [SD] of 3.6% [4.0%] of total hospital expenditures; P < .001) and in bad debt (-0.17 [95% CI, -0.32 to -0.01] percentage points). There was an increase in unreimbursed spending attributable to caring for Medicaid patients (0.85 [95% CI, 0.60 to 1.10] percentage points; P = .04), which canceled out uncompensated care savings from the expansion. Noncare direct community expenditures decreased overall (-0.24 [95% CI, -0.48 to 0.00] percentage points; P = .049). Direct community expenditures remained more stable in small hospitals (-0.07 [95% CI, -0.20 to 0.05] percentage points; P =.26) compared with large hospitals (-0.37 [95% CI, -0.86 to 0.12] percentage points; P = .14) and in nonurban hospitals (0.02 [95% CI, -0.09 to 0.14] percentage points; P = .70) compared with urban hospitals (-0.36 [95% CI, -0.73 to 0.01] percentage points; P = .06)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, Medicaid expansion was associated with a decrease in nonprofit hospitals' burden of providing uncompensated care, but this financial relief was not redirected toward spending on other community benefits.

Study Objective: In 2014, Maryland launched a population-based payment model that replaced fee-for-service payments with global budgets for all hospital-based services. This global budget revenue program gives hospitals strong incentives to tightly control patient volume and meet budget targets. We examine the effects of the global budget revenue model on rates of admission to the hospital from emergency departments (EDs)., Methods: We used medical record and billing data to examine adult ED encounters from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2015, in 25 hospital-based EDs, including 10 Maryland global budget revenue hospitals, 10 matched non-Maryland hospitals (primary control), and 5 Maryland Total Patient Revenue hospitals (secondary control). Total Patient Revenue hospitals adopted global budgeting in 2010 under a pilot Maryland program targeting rural hospitals. We conducted difference-in-differences analyses for overall ED admission rates, ED admission rates for ambulatory-care-sensitive conditions and non-ambulatory-care-sensitive conditions, and for clinical conditions that commonly lead to admission., Results: In 3,175,210 ED encounters, the ED admission rate for Maryland global budget revenue hospitals decreased by 0.6% (95% confidence interval -0.8% to -0.4%) compared with that for non-Maryland controls after global budget revenue implementation, a 3.0% relative decline, and decreased by 1.9% (95% confidence interval -2.2% to -1.7%) compared with that for Total Patient Revenue hospitals, a 9.5% relative decline. Relative declines in ED admission rates were similar for ambulatory-care-sensitive-condition and non-ambulatory-care-sensitive-condition encounters. Admission rate declines varied across clinical conditions., Conclusion: Implementation of the global budget revenue model led to statistically significant although modest declines in ED admission rates within its first 2 years, with declines in ED admissions most pronounced among certain clinical conditions., (Copyright © 2019 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A shift in healthcare payment models from volume toward value-based incentives will require deliberate input into systems development from both perioperative clinicians and administrators to ensure appropriate recognition of the value of all services provided-particularly ones that are not reimbursable in current fee-for-service payment models. Time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) methodology identifies cost drivers and reduces inaccurate costing based on siloed budgets. Inaccurate costing also results from the fact that current costing methods use charges and there has been tremendous cost shifting throughout health care. High cost, high variability processes can be identified for process improvement. As payment models inevitably evolve towards value-based metrics, it will be critical to knowledgably participate in the coordination of these changes. This document provides 8 practical Recommendations from the Society for Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement (SPAQI) aimed at outlining the principles of TDABC, creating process maps for patient workflows, understanding payment structures, establishing physician alignment across service lines to create integrated practice units to facilitate development of evidence-based pathways for specific patient risk groups, establishing consistent care delivery, minimizing variability between physicians and departments, utilizing data analytics and information technology tools to track progress and obtain actionable data, and using TDABC to create costing transparency.

Competing Interests: Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and have no relevant interests to declare.

Purpose: Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs)-based payment is an important tool for containment of inpatient expenditure rise in many countries. As a major developing country, China has introduced DRGs in the health reform. Beijing, the capital of China, developed a local DRGs version (BJ-DRGs) whose performance needs to be evaluated before universal utilization. The objective of this study was to survey the effect of BJ-DRGs-based payment on a pilot hospital., Methods: We surveyed the profit and loss situation of 47 148 cases of hospital discharged patients in 107 groups of pilot BJ-DRGs-based payment from December 2011 to July 2018 in certain top tertiary hospital in Beijing., Results: In pilot 107 groups of DRGs, there were 77 groups (71.96%) in profit and 30 groups (28.04%) in loss; average length of inpatient stay was 7.47 days, average inpatient expenditure ¥17 821.19, average DRGs standard unit price ¥15 896.83, average self-pay expenditure ¥1 117.04, and average profit ¥1 849.65; logistic regression showed that whether the pilot hospital of BJ-DRGs-based payment was in profit or loss was correlated negatively with inpatient expenditure, length of inpatient stay, drug expenditure, expenditure of medical consumables, and pilot years, and positively with DRGs standard unit price, self-pay expenditure, and age and gender (P < .0001)., Conclusion: BJ-DRGs-based payment is the first implemented DRGs-based prospective payment system in China. The current DRGs pilot model made the pilot hospital appear profitable as a whole and its length of inpatient stay decline., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

The gap between supply and demand for health care services is expanding rapidly in China. In order to resolve this problem, the government has implemented supply-side reforms in the health care sector by inviting private capital to increase supply quantity and improve quality. However, health care institutions have high complexity and particular needs, while non-profit hospitals have very strong public interests. This gives rise to complications in the implementation of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for health care services. In this paper, the authors have selected one case each from three different models of non-profit hospital PPP projects in the national PPP project database, operated by the Ministry of Finance, and compared how these projects were operated to identify the differences among them. A content analysis of the vital project documents is the primary analysis technique used for this comparison. Key issues investigated include reasons for model selection, requirements for private sectors and market competition level in different models, risk identification and sharing, design of payment mechanism, operation supervision, and performance appraisal of the project. Based on the comparison, some key lessons and recommendations are discussed to act as a useful reference for future non-profit hospital PPP projects in China., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: With payers and policymakers' focus on improving the value (health outcomes achieved per health care dollar spent) of health care delivery, physicians are increasingly taking on senior leadership/management positions in health care organizations (Carsen & Xia, 2006). Little research has been done to understand the impact of physician leadership on the delivery of care., Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine whether hospital systems led by physicians were associated with better U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) quality ratings, financial performance, and operating efficiency as compared with those led by nonphysician managers., Methodology: Cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative data from Medicare Cost Reports and the USNWR on the 115 largest U.S. hospitals was performed. Bivariate analysis of physician-led and non-physician-led hospital networks included three categories: USNWR quality ratings, hospital volume, and financial performance. Multivariate analysis of hospital leadership, percent operating margin, inpatient days per hospital bed, and average quality rating was subsequently performed., Results: Hospitals in physician-led hospital systems had higher quality ratings across all specialties and more inpatient days per hospital bed than did non-physician-led hospitals; however, there were no differences in the total revenue or profit margins between the groups. Physician leadership was independently associated with higher average quality ratings and inpatient days per bed., Conclusions: Large hospital systems led by physicians in 2015 received higher USNWR ratings and bed usage rates than did hospitals led by nonphysicians, with no differences in financial performance. This study suggests that physician leaders may possess skills, qualities, or management approaches that positively affect hospital quality and the value of care delivered., Practice Implications: Hospital quality and efficiency ratings vary significantly and can impact consumer decisions. Hospital systems may benefit from the presence of physician leadership to improve the quality and efficiency of care delivered to patients. In addition, medical education should help prepare physicians to take on leadership roles in hospitals and health systems.

Background: In U.S. hospitals, boards of directors (BODs) have numerous governance responsibilities including overseeing hospital activities and guiding strategic decisions. BODs can help hospitals adapt to changes in their markets including those stemming from a shift from fee-for-service to value-based purchasing. The recent increase in market turbulence for hospitals has brought renewed attention to the work of BODs., Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine trends in hospital BOD structure and activities and determine whether these changes are commensurate with approaches designed to respond to market pressures., Methodology/approach: We examined hospital level data from The Governance Institute Survey (2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015) and corresponding years of the American Hospital Association Annual Survey in a pooled, cross-sectional design. We conducted individual multivariate models with adjustments for hospital and market characteristics, comparing the changes in BOD structures, demographics, and activities over time., Findings: The sample included 1,811 hospital-year observations, including 682 unique facilities. We found that BODs in 2015 had less internal management (β = -2.25, p < .001) and fewer employed and nonemployed physicians (β = -8.28, p < .001) involved on the BOD. Moreover, compared to 2009, racial and ethnic minorities (2013 β = 2.88, p < .001) and women (2013 β = 1.60, p = .045; 2015 β = 2.06, p = .049) on BODs increased over time. In addition, BODs were significantly less likely to spend time on the following activities in 2015, as compared to 2009: discussing strategy and setting policy (β = -5.46, p = .002); receiving reports from management, board committees, and subsidiaries (β = -29.04, p < .001); and educating board members (β = -4.21, p < .001). Finally, BODs had no changes in the type of committees reported over time., Practice Implications: Our results indicate that hospital BODs deploy various strategies to adapt to current market trends. Hospital decision-makers should be aware of the potential effects of board structure on organization's position in the changing health care market.

This analysis of the Polish health system reviews recent developments in organization and governance, health financing, health care provision, health reforms and health system performance. In late 2017, the Polish government committed to increase the share of public expenditures on health to 6% of GDP by 2024. If the GDP continues to grow in the years to come, this will present an opportunity to tackle mounting health challenges such as socioeconomic inequalities in health, high rates of obesity, rising burden of mental disorders and population ageing that put strain on health care resources. It is also an opportunity to tackle certain longstanding imbalances in the health sector, including overreliance on acute hospital care compared with other types of care, including ambulatory care and long-term care; shortages of human resources; the negligible role of health promotion and disease prevention vis-a-vis curative care; and poor financial situation in the hospital sector. Finally, the additional resources are much needed to implement important ongoing reforms, including the reform of primary care. The resources have to be spent wisely and waste should be minimized. The introduction, in 2016, of a special system (IOWISZ) of assessing investments in the health sector that require public financing (including from the EU funds) as well as the work undertaken by the Polish health technology assessment (HTA) agency (AOTMiT), which evaluates health technologies and publicly-financed health policy programmes as well as sets prices of goods and services, should help ensure that these goals are achieved. Recent reforms, such as the ongoing reform of primary care that seeks to improve coordination of care and the introduction of the hospital network, go in the right direction; however, a number of longstanding unresolved problems, such as hospital indebtedness, need to be tackled., (World Health Organization 2019 (acting as the host organization for, and secretariat of, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies).)

The main aim of the article is to analyze the occurrence of agglomeration effect in the hospital sector on the basis of financial performance. The considerations are made on the example of hospitals in Poland-the country that survived the latest economic crisis relatively well, usually generating positive values of GDP, but where still there is an ongoing discussion on the final shape of healthcare financing model. The article is based on the assumption that there occur significant differences in financial performance between hospitals according to their location. The research hypothesis is as follows: Hospitals operating in big cities are featured by better financial condition than their counterparts operating in smaller towns. To verify the hypothesis, the methods of financial analysis and statistical hypothesis testing are used. As it is emphasized in the article, the assumption is true and the hypothesis can be verified positively., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

An employer coalition in Indiana sponsored a study by the Rand Corporation examining commercial insurer payments as a percent of Medicare. The employers sought to understand why their health care costs were high and increasing. The study showed that, on average, their insurer was paying three times what Medicare pays for the same services. In this, a follow-up study, we demonstrate that these high payments resulted in very high profit margins for central Indiana's major health systems, along with elevated costs and poor performance on key efficiency measures. We also see indications that hospitals appear to be using aggressive revenue cycle management techniques. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy issues.

This case asks how a hospital should balance patients' health needs with its financial bottom line regarding emergency department utilization. Should hospitals engage in proactive population health initiatives if they result in decreased revenue from their emergency departments? Which values should guide their thinking about this question? Drawing upon emerging legal and moral consensus about hospitals' obligations to their surrounding communities, this commentary argues that treating emergency departments purely as revenue streams violates both legal and moral standards., (© 2019 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.)

Introduction: Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) is an initiative that rewards acute-care hospitals with incentive payments for the quality of care they provide. A hospital's trauma certification has the potential to influence HVBP scores as attaining the certification provides indication of the service quality offered by the hospital. As such, this study focuses on hospitals' level of trauma certification attainment through the American College of Surgeons and whether this certification is associated with greater HVBP., Methods: A retrospective review of the 2015 HVBP database, 2015 Area Health Resources Files (AHRF) database, and the 2015 American Hospital Association (AHA) database is utilized, and propensity score matching was employed to determine the association between level of trauma certification and scores on HVBP dimensions., Results: Results reveal trauma certification is associated with lower HVBP domain scores when compared to hospitals without trauma certification. In addition, hospitals with a greater degree of trauma specialization were associated with lower total performance score and efficiency domain scores., Conclusions: Although payers attempt to connect hospital reimbursements with quality and outcomes, unintended consequences may occur. In response to these results, HVBP risk adjustment and scoring methods should receive further scrutiny.

This study assesses organizational and market factors related to high-tech service differentiation in local hospital markets. The sample includes 1704 nonfederal, general acute hospitals in urban counties in the United States. We relate organizational and market factors in 2011 to service differentiation in 2013, using ordinary least squares regression. Data are compiled from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey of Hospitals, Area Resource File, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Results show that hospitals differentiate more services relative to market rivals if they are larger than the rival and if the hospitals are further apart geographically. Hospitals differentiate more services if they are large, teaching, and nonprofit or public and if they face more market competition. Hospitals differentiate fewer services from rivals if they belong to multihospital systems. The findings underscore the pressures that urban hospitals face to offer high-tech services despite the potential of high-tech services to drive hospital costs upward.

Maryland implemented one of the most aggressive payment innovations the nation has seen in several decades when it introduced global budgets in all its acute care hospitals in 2014. Prior to this, a pilot program, total patient revenue (TPR), was established for 8 rural hospitals in 2010. Using financial hospital report data from the Health Services Cost Review Commission from 2007 to 2013, we examined the hospitals' financial results including revenue, costs, and profit/loss margins to explore the impact of the adoption of the TPR pilot global budget program relative to the remaining hospitals in the state. We analyze financial results for both regulated (included in the global budget and subject to rate-setting) and unregulated services in order to capture a holistic image of the hospitals' actual revenue, cost and margin structures. Common size and difference-in-differences analyses of the data suggest that regulated profit ratios for treatment hospitals increased (from 5% in 2007 to 8% in 2013) and regulated expense-to-gross patient revenue ratios decreased (75% in 2007 and 68% in 2013) relative to the controls. Simultaneously, the profit margins for treatment hospitals' unregulated services decreased (- 12% in 2007 and - 17% in 2013), which reduced the overall margin significantly. This analysis therefore indicates cost shifting and less profit gain from the program than identified by solely focusing on the regulated margins.

During the past decade, U.S. hospitals have acquired a large number of physician practices. For example, from 2007 to 2013, hospitals acquired nearly 10% of the practices in our sample. We find that the prices for the services provided by acquired physicians increase by an average of 14.1% post-acquisition. Nearly half of this increase is attributable to the exploitation of payment rules. Price increases are larger when the acquiring hospital has a larger share of its inpatient market. We find that integration of primary care physicians increases enrollee spending by 4.9%., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Current cost-based approach in measuring health care output does not allow decomposition of health care expenditure into price and output components. In this paper we propose an episode-based direction measurement method which closely resembles the concept of output in the system of national accounts. Using data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, we calculate a quality unadjusted output index of the Canadian hospital sector for the periods 1996-2005. The result shows that total output increases at an average annual growth rate of 1.49%. We expect that with the quality adjustment the actual rate is higher. This is in contrast with the long-held assumption that health care productivity growth is zero. Our results provide key information on the ongoing health care policy debate.

Background: Previous studies showed that the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) and the Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program (HVBP) disproportionately penalized hospitals caring for the poor. The Mississippi Delta Region (Delta Region) is among the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas in the United States. The financial performance of hospitals in the Delta Region under both HRRP and HVBP remains unclear., Objective: To compare the differences in financial performance under both HRRP and HVBP between hospitals in the Delta Region (Delta hospitals) and others in the nation (non-Delta hospitals)., Research Design: We used a 7-year panel dataset and applied difference-in-difference models to examine operating and total margin between Delta and non-Delta hospitals in 3 time periods: preperiod (2008-2010); postperiod 1 (2011-2012); and postperiod 2 (2013-2014)., Results: The Delta hospitals had a 0.89% and 4.24% reduction in operating margin in postperiods 1 and 2, respectively, whereas the non-Delta hospitals had 1.13% and 1% increases in operating margin in postperiods 1 and 2, respectively. The disparity in total margins also widened as Delta hospitals had a 1.98% increase in postperiod 1, but a 0.30% reduction in postperiod 2, whereas non-Delta hospitals had 1.27% and 2.28% increases in postperiods 1 and 2, respectively., Conclusions: The gap in financial performance between Delta and non-Delta hospitals widened following the implementation of HRRP and HVBP. Policy makers should modify these 2 programs to ensure that resources are not moved from the communities that need them most.

The central government of China launched a large-scale, expensive health reform in April 2009 because of the serious health-related problems in the country. This reform aims to re-establish a universal healthcare system, which is expected to provide affordable basic healthcare. Independent two-sample t-test, one-way ANOVA and chi-squared test were conducted to analyze the effect of the health reform on health resource allocation and service utilization in Chinese county hospitals. First, we described the hospitals' financial performance in terms of funding sources, balances and fiscal compensations (for personnel expenditure). Second, we discussed the total number of health personnel as well as the structure (number of medical personnel per thousand population and ratio of doctors and nurses) and quality of the health personnel. Lastly, we investigated the county hospitals' health resource utilization, bed occupancy and average medical expense per visit. Then, we probed different reasons and provided multiple approaches to existing problems. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: Centralisation of thrombolysis may offer substantial benefits. The aim of this study was to assess short term costs and effects of centralisation of thrombolysis and optimised care in a decentralised system., Methods: Using simulation modelling, three scenarios to improve decentralised settings in the North of Netherlands were compared from the perspective of the policy maker and compared to current decentralised care: (1) improving stroke care at nine separate hospitals, (2) centralising and improving thrombolysis treatment to four, and (3) two hospitals. Outcomes were annual mean and incremental costs per patient up to the treatment with thrombolysis, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (iCER) per 1% increase in thrombolysis rate, and the proportion treated with thrombolysis., Results: Compared to current decentralised care, improving stroke care at individual community hospitals led to mean annual costs per patient of $US 1,834 (95% CI, 1,823-1,843) whereas centralising to four and two hospitals led to $US 1,462 (95% CI, 1,451-1,473) and $US 1,317 (95% CI, 1,306-1,328), respectively (P < 0.001). The iCER of improving community hospitals was $US 113 (95% CI, 91-150) and $US 71 (95% CI, 59-94), $US 56 (95% CI, 44-74) when centralising to four and two hospitals, respectively. Thrombolysis rates decreased from 22.4 to 21.8% and 21.2% (P = 0.120 and P = 0.001) in case of increasing centralisation., Conclusions: Centralising thrombolysis substantially lowers mean annual costs per patient compared to raising stroke care at community hospitals simultaneously. Small, but negative effects on thrombolysis rates may be expected.

Several studies that measured the financial impact of hospitals on their local markets are examined. Descriptive analyses were performed to ascertain if there are any identifying characteristics and emerging patterns in the data. After hospitals were categorized into small, medium, and large classifications based on the number of employees, various predictive insights were discovered. Smaller hospitals could be expected to contribute approximately 7.3% to the local economy, whereas medium-sized hospitals would likely contribute approximately 11.4% to the financial value of the local market. Finally, larger hospitals may contribute approximately 16% to their local economies.

Hospitals are responsible for a remarkable part of the annual increase in healthcare expenditure. This article examines one of the major cost drivers, the expenditure for investment in hospital assets. The study, conducted in Switzerland, identifies factors that influence hospitals' investment decisions. A suggestion on how to categorize asset investment models is presented based on the life cycle of an asset, and its influencing factors defined based on transaction cost economics. The influence of five factors (human asset specificity, physical asset specificity, uncertainty, bargaining power, and privacy of ownership) on the selection of an asset investment model is examined using a two-step fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The research shows that outsourcing-oriented asset investment models are particularly favored in the presence of two combinations of influencing factors: First, if technological uncertainty is high and both human asset specificity and bargaining power of a hospital are low. Second, if assets are very specific, technological uncertainty is high and there is a private hospital with low bargaining power, outsourcing-oriented asset investment models are favored too. Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis, it can be demonstrated that investment decisions of hospitals do not depend on isolated influencing factors but on a combination of factors. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: Universal Zero-Markup Drug Policy (UZMDP) mandates no price mark-ups on any drug dispensed by a healthcare institution, and covers the medicines not included in the China's National Essential Medicine System. Five tertiary hospitals in Beijing, China implemented UZMDP in 2012. Its impacts on these hospitals are unknown. We described the effects of UZMDP on a participating hospital, Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing, China (JST)., Methods: This retrospective longitudinal study examined the hospital-level data of JST and city-level data of tertiary hospitals of Beijing, China (BJT) 2009-2015. Rank-sum tests and join-point regression analyses were used to assess absolute changes and differences in trends, respectively., Results: In absolute terms, after the UZDMP implementation, there were increased annual patient-visits and decreased ratios of medicine-to-healthcare-charges (RMOH) in JST outpatient and inpatient services; however, in outpatient service, physician work-days decreased and physician-workload and inflation-adjusted per-visit healthcare charges increased, while the inpatient physician work-days increased and inpatient mortality-rate reduced. Interestingly, the decreasing trend in inpatient mortality-rate was neutralized after UZDMP implementation. Compared with BJT and under influence of UZDMP, JST outpatient and inpatient services both had increasing trends in annual patient-visits (annual percentage changes[APC] = 8.1% and 6.5%, respectively) and decreasing trends in RMOH (APC = -4.3% and -5.4%, respectively), while JST outpatient services had increasing trend in inflation-adjusted per-visit healthcare charges (APC = 3.4%) and JST inpatient service had decreasing trend in inflation-adjusted per-visit medicine-charges (APC = -5.2%)., Conclusion: Implementation of UZMDP seems to increase annual patient-visits, reduce RMOH and have different impacts on outpatient and inpatient services in a Chinese urban tertiary hospital., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction: One significant change in the English National Health Service (NHS) has been the introduction of market mechanisms. This review will explore the following questions: should we have markets in healthcare? What is the underlying philosophy of introducing more market mechanisms into the NHS? What are the effects of this and does it change the NHS beyond anything Bevan might have imagined in 1948?, Sources of Data: The review will use empirical studies, philosophical literature, bioethics discussion, policy and NHS documents., Areas of Agreement: The NHS is facing unprecedented challenges at the beginning of the 21st century, with funding levels not meeting the increase in demand., Areas of Controversy: The extent and appropriate role for market mechanisms in the NHS is hotly debated. It will be argued that we are moving towards a more market-based NHS and the possible effects of this will be discussed., Growing Points: Rarely are the policy changes in the NHS evidence based in any meaningful way and they are often driven by ideological considerations rather than clear evidence. There needs to be a greater reliance on evidence of what works and a continuing commitment to healthcare as a societal good., Areas Timely for Developing Research: There needs to be a discussion of what the NHS should be-a funder and provider, a funder or a partial funder? How the balance of power between regulators, different types of provider, commissioners and ultimately patients will play out in this changing environment are also areas for future study., (© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The article presents brief review of implementation of strategy of medicinal support of population of the Russian Federation and experience of application of at the level of regional hospital. The necessity and importance of implementation into practice of hospitals of methodology of pharmaco-economical management of medicinal care using modern technologies of XYZ-, ABC and VEN-analysis is demonstrated. The stages of development and implementation of process of medicinal support of multifield hospital applying principles of system of quality management (processing and systemic approaches, risk management) on the basis of standards ISO 9001 are described. The significance of monitoring of results ofprocess of medicinal support of the basis of implementation of priority target programs (prevention of venous thrombo-embolic complications, system od control of anti-bacterial therapy) are demonstrated in relation to multi-field hospital using technique of ATC/DDD-analysis for evaluating indices of effectiveness and efficiency.

Financial implications of developing a hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) center have not been considered. We undertook this study to determine hospital income associated with a new HPB center and to gauge the opportunity cost associated with such a center. Operations included were based on the HPB fellowship curriculum and the six most commonly undertaken general surgery operations. The income with "core" HPB operations (n = 93) and the six most frequently undertaken general surgery operations (n = 583) at one hospital from June 2012 to June 2013 were determined. Patients were not screened based on the ability to pay. Data are reported as mean ± standard deviation. Per operation, hospital income with HPB operations and general surgery operations were $15,583.20 ± $45,909.41 and $5,162.22 ± $33,679.10 (P < 0.005), respectively. Accordingly, net incomes of $1,449,238.04 (n = 93) and $3,009,572.78 (n = 583) were observed. Although general surgery operations are ubiquitous, HPB centers are uncommonly pursued at most hospitals, in part due to the patient volumes necessary to meet the expertise required. A "core" HPB operation produces triple the net income of a general surgery operation. Accordingly, significant financial benefit is achievable with the development of an HPB center when adequate volume is realized.

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is an adverse drug reaction occurring in up to 5% of patients exposed to unfractionated heparin (UFH). We examined the impact of a hospital-wide strategy for avoiding heparin on the incidence of HIT, HIT with thrombosis (HITT), and HIT-related costs. The Avoid-Heparin Initiative, implemented at a tertiary care hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, since 2006, involved replacing UFH with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) for prophylactic and therapeutic indications. Consecutive cases with suspected HIT from 2003 through 2012 were reviewed. Rates of suspected HIT, adjudicated HIT, and HITT, along with HIT-related expenditures were compared in the pre-intervention (2003-2005) and the avoid-heparin (2007-2012) phases. The annual rate of suspected HIT decreased 42%, from 85.5 per 10 000 admissions in the pre-intervention phase to 49.0 per 10 000 admissions in the avoid-heparin phase ( ITALIC! P< .001). The annual rate of patients with a positive HIT assay decreased 63% from 16.5 to 6.1 per 10 000 admissions ( ITALIC! P< .001), adjudicated HIT decreased 79% from 10.7 to 2.2 per 10 000 admissions ( ITALIC! P< .001), and HITT decreased 91% from 4.6 to 0.4 per 10 000 admissions ( ITALIC! P< .001). Hospital HIT-related expenditures decreased by $266 938 per year in the avoid-heparin phase. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating the success and feasibility of a hospital-wide HIT prevention strategy., (© 2016 by The American Society of Hematology.)

Aim: To define optimal variant of transfusion supply of hospital by blood components and to decrease donor blood expense via application of blood preserving technologies., Material and Methods: Donor blood components expense, volume of hemotransfusions and their proportion for the period 2012-2014 were analyzed., Results: Number of recipients of packed red cells, fresh-frozen plasma and packed platelets reduced 18.5%, 25% and 80% respectively. Need for donor plasma decreased 35%. Expense of autologous plasma in cardiac surgery was 76% of overall volume. Preoperative plasma sampling is introduced in patients with aortic aneurysm. Number of cardiac interventions performed without donor blood is increased 7-31% depending on its complexity.

Providers have just one last chance to prepare for implementation of ICD-0. These three components are key to a successful transition: Strong leadership, proactive processes and technology, diligence with denials.

Background: This contribution is a response to the current issue of corporate governance in hospitals in the Czech Republic, which draw a significant portion of funds from public health insurance. This not only has a significant impact on the economic efficiency of hospitals, but ultimately affects the whole system of healthcare provision in the Czech Republic. Therefore, the effectiveness of the corporate governance of hospitals might affect the fiscal stability of the health system and, indirectly, health policy for the whole country., Objectives: The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the success of the transformation in connection with the performance of corporate governance in hospitals in the Czech Republic. Specifically, there was an examination of the management differences in various types of hospitals, which differed in their ownership structure and legal form., Methodology/approach: A sample of 100 hospitals was investigated in 2009, i.e., immediately after the transformation had been completed, and then three years later in 2012. With regard to the different public support of individual hospitals, the operating subsidies were removed from the economic results of the corporations in the sample. The adjusted economic results were first of all examined in relationship to the type of hospital (according to owner and legal form), and then in relation to its size, the size of the supervisory board and the education level of the senior hospital manager. A multiple median regression was used for the evaluation., Findings: One of the basic findings was the fact that the hospital's legal form had no influence on economic results. Successful management in the form of adjusted economic results is only associated with the private type of facility ownership. From the perspective of our concept of corporate governance other factors were under observation: the size of the hospital, the size of the supervisory board and the medical qualifications of the senior manager had no statistically verifiable influence on the efficiency of the hospital management, though we did record certain developments as a result of the transformation process. The economic results that were reported were significantly distorted by the operating subsidies from the founder., Practical Implications: The results can be used immediately on several practical levels: on the macro level as part of the state's formulation of health policy, particularly in the optimization of the structure of healthcare providers, as well as for the completion of reforms in legal forms and hospital founders, and on the micro level as part of the effective administration and governance of hospitals through corporate governance regardless of the form of ownership., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Providing cost-effective, accessible, high quality patient care is a challenge to governments and health care delivery systems across the globe. In response to this challenge, two types of hospital funding models have been widely implemented: (1) activity-based funding (ABF) and (2) pay-for-performance (P4P). Although health care leaders play a critical role in the implementation of these funding models, to date their perspectives have not been systematically examined., Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review was to gain a better understanding of the experiences of health care leaders implementing hospital funding reforms within Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries., Methods: We searched literature from 1982 to 2013 using: Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete, Academic Search Elite, and Business Source Complete. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts and full texts using predefined criteria. We included 2 mixed methods and 12 qualitative studies. Thematic analysis was used in synthesizing results., Results: Five common themes and multiple subthemes emerged. Themes include: pre-requisites for success, perceived benefits, barriers/challenges, unintended consequences, and leader recommendations., Conclusions: Irrespective of which type of hospital funding reform was implemented, health care leaders described a complex process requiring the following: organizational commitment; adequate infrastructure; human, financial and information technology resources; change champions and a personal commitment to quality care., (Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

When seeking to determine the financial value of a multi-provider network, hospital finance executives should address the following considerations: Revenue projections. Shared savings revenue risk. Distribution of profits. Cost structure. Working capital requirements.

Objective: The Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) is adding financial incentives to increase the volume of surgeries provided by hospitals using a marginal pricing approach. The objective of this study is to calculate marginal costs of surgeries based on assumptions regarding hospitals' availability of labor and equipment., Data: This study is based on observational clinical, administrative and financial data generated by hospitals. Hospital inpatient and outpatient discharge summaries from the province are linked with detailed activity-based costing information, stratified by assigned case mix categorizations., Study Design: To reflect a range of operating constraints governing hospitals' ability to increase their volume of surgeries, a number of scenarios are proposed. Under these scenarios, estimated marginal costs are calculated and compared to prices being offered as incentives to hospitals., Principal Findings: Existing data can be used to support alternative strategies for pricing hospital care. Prices for inpatient surgeries do not generate positive margins under a range of operating scenarios. Hip and knee surgeries generate surpluses for hospitals even under the most costly labor conditions and are expected to generate additional volume., Conclusions: In health systems that wish to fine-tune financial incentives, setting prices that create incentives for additional volume should reflect knowledge of hospitals' underlying cost structures. Possible implications of mis-pricing include no response to the incentives or uneven increases in supply., (Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.)