Aragón MJ, Chalkley M, Kreif N. The long-run effects of diagnosis related group payment on hospital lengths of stay in a publicly funded health care system: Evidence from 15 years of micro data.
HEALTH ECONOMICS 2022;
31:956-972. [PMID:
35238106 PMCID:
PMC9314794 DOI:
10.1002/hec.4479]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Revised: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) payment systems are a common means of paying for hospital services. They reward greater activity and therefore potentially encourage more rapid treatment. This paper uses 15 years of administrative data to examine the impact of a DRG system introduced in England on hospital lengths of stay. We utilize different econometric models, exploiting within and cross jurisdiction variation, to identify policy effects, finding that the reduction of lengths of stay was greater than previously estimated and grew over time. This constitutes new and important evidence of the ability of financing reform to generate substantial and persistent change in healthcare delivery.
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