Who Will be the Costliest Patients? Using Recent Claims to Predict Expensive Surgical Episodes.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:Surgery accounts for almost half of inpatient spending, much of which is concentrated in a subset of high-cost patients. To study the effects of surgeon and hospital characteristics on surgical expenditures, a way to adjust for patient characteristics is essential. DESIGN:Using 100% Medicare claims data, we identified patients aged 66-99 undergoing elective inpatient surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting, colectomy, and total hip/knee replacement) in 2014. We calculated price-standardized Medicare payments for the surgical episode from admission through 30 days after discharge (episode payments). On the basis of predictor variables from 2013, that is, Elixhauser comorbidities, hierarchical condition categories, Medicare's Chronic Conditions Warehouse (CCW), and total spendi

SUBMITTER: Chhabra KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6814263 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature