Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

H S Luft

Publications and source records attributed to H S Luft.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

The policy implications of using hospital and physician volumes as "indicators" of quality of care in a changing health care environment.

There is growing interest in the quality of health care and in using quality measures to direct patients to hospitals and providers offering high quality, low cost health care. The dilemma is that, while there is an increasing need for quality indicators as a result of a changing health care environment, this changing environment has important implications for the use of some of these measures. Since the 1970s, a growing body of research in the U.S. has addressed the empirical relationship between the number of patients with a specific diagnosis of surgical procedure and their outcomes after treatment in a particular hospital or by a particular physician ("volume-outcome" studies). In this paper, we examine the policy implications of using hospital and physician volume information as an "indicator" of quality in a rapidly changing health care environment with new players and new incentives. We begin by describing the evolution of the use of volumes within both regulatory and market-oriented contexts in the U.S. We then discuss policy considerations and cautions in using volumes, along with suggestions for future research. Our purpose is to point out potential problems and clarify confusions about the use of volumes, so that policymakers and practitioners can be sensitive to the potential minefields they are traversing.

Decision Making, Organizational↗
PubMed1997

Charges for obstetric liability insurance and discontinuation of obstetric practice in New York.

BACKGROUND: The study objective was to determine whether New York physicians facing higher charges for obstetric liability insurance coverage are more likely to discontinue obstetric practice than physicians experiencing lower levels of increases in liability insurance charges. METHODS: We performed a physician-level analysis of factors predicting discontinuation of hospital-based obstetric practice by 1989 for physicians active in obstetrics in 1980. We examined both physicians who became completely clinically inactive in New York between 1980 and 1989, and physicians who remained clinically active but restricted their hospital practice to areas other than obstetrics. Multiple logistic regression models were used to analyze predictors of discontinuation of obstetrics, including regional malpractice insurance charges, physician characteristics, and practice characteristics. RESULTS: Although increases in malpractice insurance charges differed considerably among regions within New York State, there was no association between level of increase of charges for liability insurance and discontinuation of obstetric practice. A greater number of years since medical licensure was associated both with complete discontinuation of hospital practice in New York and selective discontinuation of obstetrical practice. Compared with obstetrician-gynecologists, family physicians were less likely to become completely clinically inactive. Among physicians who remained clinically active in hospital care, however, family physicians were less likely than obstetrician-gynecologists to continue to include obstetrics in their practice. CONCLUSIONS: There is no relationship between the level of increase in liability insurance premiums and the likelihood of discontinuing obstetric practice in New York. Discontinuation of obstetric practice appears to mainly reflect trends in the physician's life cycle of practice activity and in the scope of family and general practice.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1996

Modifying managed competition to address cost and quality.

California's health care marketplace is undergoing rapid transformation--from one characterized by aggressive but unregulated competition to one that approximates managed competition. The Pacific Business Group on Health purchases health insurance for large employers; the California Public Employees Retirement System acts as a purchasing pool for both state workers and smaller public employers; and The Health Insurance Plan of California is a pool for small employers. Each focuses on price-conscious competition among health maintenance organizations. These large purchasing cooperatives also are addressing biased selection among the health plans they offer. Initially focused on simple demographic adjustments, risk adjustment now also entails adjustment for high-risk cases, such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and liver transplants. These purchasers also devote more detailed attention to the quality and process of care.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1996

Use of risk-adjusted outcome data for quality improvement by public hospitals.

In 1993 the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) began public release of risk-adjusted monitoring of outcomes (RAMO) under the California Hospital Outcomes Project. We studied how 17 acute are public hospitals in California used these RAMO data for quality improvement purposes following their initial distribution, first by analyzing the outcome data for San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center as recommended by OSHPD and, second, by querying the departments at the other 16 public hospitals to determine how their own analyses compared. We found that the hospitals generally did minimal analyses of the OSHPD RAMO data and considered the data of little value to them. Only 3 hospitals initiated quality improvement activities based on their data review. The major reasons given by the hospitals for not using the RAMO data were that their outcomes were adequate, as verified by a comparison of their observed outcomes and those expected after risk-adjustment; that the hospitals had too few patients in the diagnostic categories; that they had too few resources; and that they were not concerned with the data's public release. Other possible explanations were that awareness of the California Hospital Outcomes Project was not widespread at the time of the study, that the RAMO data were not distributed in a way that encouraged their use, and that public hospitals were not inclined to use the outcome data because the project was imposed on them. Whatever the explanation, our study suggests that the California Hospital Outcomes Project has had little effect on quality improvement in public hospitals.

California↗
PubMed1996

The contribution of group- and staff-model HMOs to American medicine.

Although group- and staff-model prepaid health plans were the original model of HMOs, they now represent a minority of HMOs and their enrollees. Nevertheless, these models made, and continue to make, important public contributions through their demonstration of alternative methods of delivering care and their support of population-based research on specific diseases, utilization of services, and styles of medical practice. The limited number of such plans, however, makes it difficult to ascertain whether these contributions are attributable to the type of HMO per se, with their largely nonprofit ownership, their unique organizational histories, and their key leaders, among other factors. A more comprehensive understanding of this question is crucial to assuring the continuation of the public benefits that have accrued from these models in the past.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1995

Regionalization of cardiac surgery in the United States and Canada. Geographic access, choice, and outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To determine how regionalization of facilities for coronary artery bypass surgery (CABS) affects geographic access to CABS and surgical outcomes. DESIGN: Computerized hospital discharge records were used to measure hospital CABS volume and in-hospital post-CABS mortality rates. Relationships between surgical volume and age- and sex-adjusted mortality rates were compared using chi 2 tests. Small-area analysis of the association between CABS rates and distances to nearest CABS hospital was performed using multivariate linear regression methods. SETTING: All nonfederal hospitals in New York, California, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia. PATIENTS: All adult residents of the five jurisdictions who underwent CABS in a hospital in their jurisdiction from 1987 through 1989. RESULTS: In New York and Canada, approximately 60% of all CABS operations took place in hospitals performing 500 or more CABS operations per year, compared with only 26% in California. The highest mortality rates were found among California hospitals performing fewer than 100 CABS operations per year (adjusted 14-day in-hospital mortality was 4.7% compared with 2.4% in high-volume California hospitals, P < .001). The percentage of the population residing within 25 miles of a CABS hospital was 91% in California, 82% in New York, and less than 60% in Canada. Eliminating very low-volume (< 100 cases per year) CABS hospitals in California would increase travel distances to a CABS hospital only slightly for a small number of residents. The Canadian degree of regionalization was not associated with lower CABS rates within provinces for populations living at more remote distances from the nearest CABS hospital. CONCLUSION: Regionalization of CABS facilities in New York and Canada largely avoids the problem of low-volume outlier hospitals with high postoperative mortality rates found in California. New York has avoided the redundancy of facilities that exists in California while still providing residents a geographically convenient selection of CABS hospitals. Stricter regionalization in Canada may leave residents with a more narrow choice of facilities, but does not disproportionately affect access to surgery for populations living at remote distances from CABS facilities.

Canada↗
PubMed1995

Estimating health expenditure growth under managed competition. Science, simulations, and scenarios.

The estimated impact of health system reform proposals on health expenditures influences the health system reform debate. Health expenditure growth rate (HEGR) estimates are particularly critical because small differences in rates over time create large differences in health expenditures. There currently is no hard scientific basis for estimating the impact of managed care/managed competition legislation and market developments on the HEGR. For the 1994 health system reform debate, the two leading nonpartisan modelers developed qualitative scenarios about future health system developments in which managed care/managed competition would have little or no impact on the HEGR. We conclude that there are alternative plausible scenarios, based on current health system changes interacting with potential legislation, in which managed care/managed competition will substantially lower the HEGR. We recommend that simulation models should provide a range of estimates that better reflect both market trends and the profound uncertainty about the effects of health system reform.

Competitive Medical Plans↗
PubMed1995

The California Hospital Outcomes Project: using administrative data to compare hospital performance.

BACKGROUND: The California Hospital Outcomes Project was created by an act of the state legislature in 1991. The California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) publishes annual reports on risk-adjusted hospital outcomes for medical, surgical, and obstetric patients. These outcomes indicators were chosen: in-hospital mortality within 30 days (acute myocardial infarction [AMI]), reported post-operative complications (diskectomy, delivery), post-operative length of stay (diskectomy), and readmission within 6 weeks (delivery). Project reports are based on discharge abstracts submitted by hospitals and edited by OSHPD. For each outcome, two risk adjustment models were used to estimate expected and risk-adjusted hospital outcome rates, along with p values representing the likelihood that the observed number of adverse outcomes occurred by chance. RESULTS: The first hospital outcomes report was distributed to hospitals in June 1993 and released to the public in December 1993. The total number of hospitals labeled as "better than expected" was 14 for AMI, 5 for cervical diskectomy, and 25 for lumbar diskectomy. The second hospital outcomes report was distributed to hospitals in June 1995. RESPONSE AND CONCLUSIONS: Letters submitted for 168 hospitals in response to the 1993 report demonstrated that hospitals had studied and used project results to evaluate their coding practices and quality of care. Media coverage of the 1993 report was balanced but sometimes critical of OSHPD's failure to identify "worse" hospitals. In response to providers' concerns, OSHPD has undertaken a validation study to explore whether differences in coding, unmeasured risk factors, or processes of care explain the reported differences in risk-adjusted outcome rates.

California↗
PubMed1995

The association of hospital volumes of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty with adverse outcomes, length of stay, and charges in California.

The objective of this study was to examine whether hospital volumes of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) are associated with adverse outcomes (coronary artery bypass graft surgery after PTCA and/or in-hospital mortality), post-PTCA length of stay (LOS), and hospital charges. Discharge data for 24,856 patients undergoing PTCA in 1989 from 110 California hospitals were analyzed. Regression analysis was used to adjust patient discharge data for risk factors. Actual and predicted adverse outcomes, LOS, and charges were compared for hospital volume categories (using 95% confidence intervals). Rates of adverse outcomes were significantly higher than expected in low-volume hospitals (< 201 PTCAs) and significantly lower than expected in high-volume hospitals (> 400 PTCAs). The results were similar for LOS and charges, although the results for charges were less conclusive. The associations of volumes and outcomes were generally consistent for both unadjusted and adjusted analyses, for patients with and without principal diagnoses of acute myocardial infarction, and using different methods and functional forms. Given this association between hospital volumes of PTCA and outcomes, future research should assess the underlying causes of this association and whether limiting the use of low-volume facilities would improve outcomes.

Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary↗
PubMed1995

Risk adjusting community rated health plan premiums: a survey of risk assessment literature and policy applications.

This paper surveys recent health care reform debates and empirical evidence regarding the potential role for risk adjusters in addressing the problem of competitive risk segmentation under capitated financing. We discuss features of health plan markets affecting risk selection, methodological considerations in measuring it, and alternative approaches to financial correction for risk differentials. The appropriate approach to assessing risk differences between health plans depends upon the nature of market risk selection allowed under a given reform scenario. Because per capita costs depend on a health plan's population risk, efficiency, and quality of service, risk adjustment will most strongly promote efficiency in environments with commensurately strong incentives for quality care.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1995

Correlation of travel time on roads versus straight line distance.

Studies of hospital demand and choice of hospital have used straight line distance from a patient's home to hospitals as a measure of geographic access, but there is the potential for bias if straight line distance does not accurately reflect travel time. Travel times for unimpeded travel between major intersections in upstate New York were compared with distances between these points. The correlation between distance and travel time was 0.987 for all observations and 0.826 for distances less than 15 miles. These very high correlations indicate that straight line distance is a reasonable proxy for travel time in most hospital demand or choice models, especially those with large numbers of hospitals. The authors' outlier analyses show some exceptions, however, so this relationship may not hold for studies focusing on specific hospitals, very small numbers of hospitals, or studies in dense urban areas with high congestion and reliance on surface streets.

Catchment Area, Health↗
PubMed1995

Potential methods to reduce risk selection and its effects.

Risk differences are inherent with voluntary enrollment or choice of health plans. If these desirable features are to be maintained, risk differences must be assessed and payments to plans adjusted. Perfect prediction of individual level costs is impossible, but it is feasible to approximate costs for large groups of employees joining a purchasing cooperative. When people within an employee group or cooperative can choose among different health plans, there is much more opportunity for risk selection. A fair but powerful referee to determine adjustment methods within the cooperative's zero-sum setting may reduce markedly the potential for selection problems.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1995

Measuring hospital mortality rates: are 30-day data enough? Ischemic Heart Disease Patient Outcomes Research Team.

OBJECTIVE: We compare 30-day and 180-day postadmission hospital mortality rates for all Medicare patients and those in three categories of cardiac care: coronary artery bypass graft surgery, acute myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure. DATA SOURCES/COLLECTION: Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) hospital mortality data for FY 1989. STUDY DESIGN: Using hospital level public use files of actual and predicted mortality at 30 and 180 days, we constructed residual mortality measures for each hospital. We ranked hospitals and used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to compare 0-30, 31-180, and 0-180-day postadmission mortality. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: For the admissions we studied, we found a broad range of hospital performance when we ranked hospitals using the 30-day data; some hospitals had much lower than predicted 30-day mortality rates, while others had much higher than predicted mortality rates. Data from the time period 31-180 days postadmission yield results that corroborate the 0-30 day postadmission data. Moreover, we found evidence that hospital performance on one condition is related to performance on the other conditions, but that the correlation is much weaker in the 31-180-day interval than in the 0-30-day period. Using ROC curves, we found that the 30-day data discriminated the top and bottom fifths of the 180-day data extremely well, especially for AMI outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Using data on cumulative hospital mortality from 180 days postadmission does not yield a different perspective from using data from 30 days postadmission for the conditions we studied.

Cardiology Service, Hospital↗