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Shen C, Deng Q, Lai S, Yang L, Zhao D, Zhao Y, Zhou Z. New evidence on supplier-induced demand in China's public tertiary hospitals: is the cost of hospitalization higher in the off-season? THE EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH ECONOMICS : HEPAC : HEALTH ECONOMICS IN PREVENTION AND CARE 2023:10.1007/s10198-023-01638-y. [PMID: 37922094 DOI: 10.1007/s10198-023-01638-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/05/2023]
Abstract
Supplier-induced demand (SID) is a long-standing concern in health economics and health system studies; however, empirical evidence on SID-critical to the development of health policy-is difficult to obtain, especially from China. This study, therefore, aims to add new evidence on SID in China's public tertiary hospitals and facilitates the development of evidence-based health policies in China and other countries with similar healthcare systems. For this study, we used patient-level electronic medical records (EMRs) collected from the information systems of tertiary hospitals in a western province in China. From 11 tertiary hospitals, we collected 274,811 hospitalization records dated between 15 February and 30 November 2019. Total expenditure on hospitalization and length of admission of each patient were the primary metrics for measuring SID. We constructed a character indicator to measure the high-season or off-season status of hospitals, and log-linear estimations were applied to estimate the "off-season effect" on hospitalized expenditures and length of admission. We find that the cost of hospitalization is indeed higher in the off-season in China's public tertiary hospitals; specifically, expenditures for patients admitted in the off-season increased by an average of 5.3-7.9% compared to patients admitted in the peak season, while the length of admission in the hospital increased by an average of 6.8% to 10.2%. We also checked the robustness of our findings by performing subgroup analyses of EMRs in the city-level hospitals and surgical group. We name this phenomenon the "hospital off-season effect" and suggest that the main reason for it is inappropriate financial incentives combined with a Fee-For-Services payment method. We suggest that China should work to reform inappropriate financial incentives in public hospitals to eliminate SID by changing its payment and financing compensation system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chi Shen
- School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
| | - Qiwei Deng
- School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, China
| | - Sha Lai
- School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
| | - Liu Yang
- Center of Health Information of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, 710003, China
| | - Dantong Zhao
- School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China
| | - Yaxin Zhao
- School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, China
| | - Zhongliang Zhou
- School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
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Albarqouni L, Abukmail E, MohammedAli M, Elejla S, Abuelazm M, Shaikhkhalil H, Pathirana T, Palagama S, Effa E, Ochodo E, Rugengamanzi E, AlSabaa Y, Ingabire A, Riwa F, Goraya B, Bakhit M, Clark J, Arab-Zozani M, Alves da Silva S, Pramesh CS, Vanderpuye V, Lang E, Korenstein D, Born K, Tabiri S, Ademuyiwa A, Nabhan A, Moynihan R. Low-Value Surgical Procedures in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Scoping Review. JAMA Netw Open 2023; 6:e2342215. [PMID: 37934494 PMCID: PMC10630901 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.42215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Importance Overuse of surgical procedures is increasing around the world and harms both individuals and health care systems by using resources that could otherwise be allocated to addressing the underuse of effective health care interventions. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), there is some limited country-specific evidence showing that overuse of surgical procedures is increasing, at least for certain procedures. Objectives To assess factors associated with, extent and consequences of, and potential solutions for low-value surgical procedures in LMICs. Evidence Review We searched 4 electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and Global Index Medicus) for studies published from database inception until April 27, 2022, with no restrictions on date or language. A combination of MeSH terms and free-text words about the overuse of surgical procedures was used. Studies examining the problem of overuse of surgical procedures in LMICs were included and categorized by major focus: the extent of overuse, associated factors, consequences, and solutions. Findings Of 4276 unique records identified, 133 studies across 63 countries were included, reporting on more than 9.1 million surgical procedures (median per study, 894 [IQR, 97-4259]) and with more than 11.4 million participants (median per study, 989 [IQR, 257-6857]). Fourteen studies (10.5%) were multinational. Of the 119 studies (89.5%) originating from single countries, 69 (58.0%) were from upper-middle-income countries and 30 (25.2%) were from East Asia and the Pacific. Of the 42 studies (31.6%) reporting extent of overuse of surgical procedures, most (36 [85.7%]) reported on unnecessary cesarean delivery, with estimated rates in LMICs ranging from 12% to 81%. Evidence on other surgical procedures was limited and included abdominal and percutaneous cardiovascular surgical procedures. Consequences of low-value surgical procedures included harms and costs, such as an estimated US $3.29 billion annual cost of unnecessary cesarean deliveries in China. Associated factors included private financing, and solutions included social media campaigns and multifaceted interventions such as audits, feedback, and reminders. Conclusions and Relevance This systematic review found growing evidence of overuse of surgical procedures in LMICs, which may generate significant harm and waste of limited resources; the majority of studies reporting overuse were about unnecessary cesarean delivery. Therefore, a better understanding of the problems in other surgical procedures and a robust evaluation of solutions are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loai Albarqouni
- Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
| | - Eman Abukmail
- Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
| | - Majdeddin MohammedAli
- Medicine & Health Sciences Faculty, Department of Medicine, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
| | - Sewar Elejla
- Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza Strip, Palestine
| | | | | | - Thanya Pathirana
- School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith University, Sunshine Coast, Australia
| | - Sujeewa Palagama
- School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith University, Sunshine Coast, Australia
| | - Emmanuel Effa
- Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria
| | - Eleanor Ochodo
- Centre for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kismu City, Kenya
- Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care, Department of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
| | - Eulade Rugengamanzi
- Department of Clinical Oncology, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Yousef AlSabaa
- Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University of Gaza, Gaza Strip, Palestine
| | - Ale Ingabire
- Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
| | - Francis Riwa
- Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
| | - Burhan Goraya
- Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Mina Bakhit
- Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
| | - Justin Clark
- Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
| | - Morteza Arab-Zozani
- Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
| | | | - C. S. Pramesh
- Tata Memorial Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
| | - Verna Vanderpuye
- National Centre for Radiotherapy, Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana
| | - Eddy Lang
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Deborah Korenstein
- Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
| | - Karen Born
- Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Stephen Tabiri
- Department of Surgery, University for Development Studies–School of Medicine and Tamale Teaching Hospital, Tamale, Ghana
| | - Adesoji Ademuyiwa
- Paediatric Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine of the University of Lagos and Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba, Lagos
| | - Ashraf Nabhan
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Ray Moynihan
- Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
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Neethi Mohan V, Shirisha P, Vaidyanathan G, Muraleedharan VR. Variations in the prevalence of caesarean section deliveries in India between 2016 and 2021 - an analysis of Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2023; 23:622. [PMID: 37649006 PMCID: PMC10466745 DOI: 10.1186/s12884-023-05928-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The prevalence of C-sections in India increased from 17.2% to 2006 to 21.5% in 2021. This study examines the variations in C-section prevalence and the factors correlating to these variations in Tamil Nadu (TN) and Chhattisgarh (CG). METHODS Delivery by C-section as the outcome variable and several demographic, socio-economic, and clinical variables were considered as explanatory variables to draw inferences from unit-level data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4; 2015-16 and NFHS-5; 2019-21). Descriptive statistics, bivariate percentage distribution, Pearson's Chi-square test, and multivariate binary logistic regression models were employed. The Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and the Concentration Index (CIX) were used to analyse absolute and relative inequality in C-section rates across wealth quintiles in public- and private-sector institutions. RESULTS The prevalence of C-sections increased across India, TN and CG despite a decrease in pregnancy complications among the study participants. The odds of caesarean deliveries among overweight women were twice (OR = 2.11; 95% CI 1.95-2.29; NFHS-5) those for underweight women. Women aged 35-49 were also twice (OR = 2.10; 95% CI 1.92-2.29; NFHS-5) as likely as those aged 15-24 to have C-sections. In India, women delivering in private health facilities had nearly four times higher odds (OR = 3.90; 95% CI 3.74-4.06; NFHS-5) of having a C-section; in CG, the odds were nearly ten-fold (OR = 9.57; 95% CI:7.51,12.20; NFHS-5); and in TN, nearly three-fold (OR = 2.65; 95% CI-2.27-3.10; NFHS-5) compared to those delivering in public facilities. In public facilities, absolute inequality by wealth quintile in C-section prevalence across India and in CG increased in the five years until 2021, indicating that the rich increasingly delivered via C-sections. In private facilities, the gap in C-section prevalence between the poor (the bottom two quintiles) and the non-poor narrowed across India. In TN, the pattern was inverted in 2021, with an alarming 73% of the poor delivering via C-sections compared to 64% of those classified as non-poor. CONCLUSION The type of health facility (public or private) had the most impact on whether delivery was by C-section. In India and CG, the rich are more likely to have C-sections, both in the private and in the public sector. In TN, a state with good health indicators overall, the poor are surprisingly more likely to have C-sections in the private sector. While the reasons for this inversion are not immediately evident, the implications are worrisome and pose public health policy challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Varshini Neethi Mohan
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), Chennai, 600 036, Tamil Nadu, India.
| | - P Shirisha
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), Chennai, 600 036, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Girija Vaidyanathan
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), Chennai, 600 036, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - V R Muraleedharan
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), Chennai, 600 036, Tamil Nadu, India
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