Impact of hospital payment reform on rational use of antibiotics: a natural experiment.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

While numerous studies have examined the effects of diagnosis-related groups (DRG) payment on hospital healthcare, evidence regarding its impact on the quality of hospital healthcare is poor and findings have been inconsistent. This study evaluates how DRG payment reform influences rational use of antibiotics in hospital using the World Health Organization (WHO) Access, Watch, Reserve (AWaRe) classification in China.

Methods

We employed a natural experiment design with difference-in-differences analysis, comparing 10 hospitals implementing DRG payment in two pilot cities with 27 hospitals maintaining fee-for-service (FFS) payment in three control cities in Sichuan Province. Using medicine consumption data from 2016 to 2020 (185 hospital-years), we assessed total

SUBMITTER: Zou K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12433986 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature