Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

People admitted to hospital with physical disability have increased length of stay: implications for diagnosis related group re-imbursement in England

Carpenter, G. Iain, Bobby, Jacqui, Kulinskaya, Elena, Seymour, Gwyn (2007) People admitted to hospital with physical disability have increased length of stay: implications for diagnosis related group re-imbursement in England. Age and Ageing, 36 (1). pp. 73-78. ISSN 0002-0729. (doi:10.1093/ageing/afl148) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:2517)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afl148

Abstract

Objectives: to assess whether measures of cognitive and physical function can explain differences in observed and healthcare resource group (HRG) predicted length of stay for patients presenting with six target conditions at admission.

Design: prospective observational study.

Setting: three East Kent district general hospitals.

Participants: One thousand nine hundred and forty-two consecutive emergency admissions, from March to July 2004, with one or more of six presenting conditions (stroke, fracture neck of femur, myocardial infarction, acute respiratory infection, chronic obstructive airways disease and falls).

Main Outcome Measures: length of stay by physical and cognitive function score adjusted for HRG allocated at discharge and other covariates. Physical function was defined using Activities of Daily Living Hierarchy Scale and cognitive function using the Cognitive Performance Scale.

Results: median difference between observed and HRG predicted length of stay was 1.2 days (25th percentile estimate, 3.9; 75th percentile estimate, 10.1) for patients with high physical dependency. They stayed 40% longer (95% confidence interval 26-56%) than patients with lower physical dependency after excluding effects of HRG and other covariates. Results are not consistent for cognitive function scores, mainly because most patients had no cognitive impairment.

Conclusions: these patients, presenting with conditions common in older patients, would have incurred estimated annual costs of 1.9 pound million in excess of their HRG tariff-based re-imbursement. Physical function, defined by the degree of dependency in activities of daily living, should be incorporated into HRGs to reduce the financial risk faced by acute hospital services under Payment by Results, the UK diagnosis related group re-imbursement system.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1093/ageing/afl148
Uncontrolled keywords: case-mix; length of stay; disability; health care costs; diagnosis related groups; elderly
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Centre for Health Services Studies
Depositing User: Suzanne Duffy
Date Deposited: 31 Mar 2008 13:27 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:41 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/2517 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Carpenter, G. Iain.

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:
  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.