Abstract
Utilizing 1,297 male patients under the primary care of an identical group of house officers and under treatment between 1985 and 1987 for ten common medical diagnoses, length of hospitalization was compared between a private sector (n = 481) and Veterans Administration (VA) (n = 816) facility, both affiliated with the same medical school. All patients were rated by the Horn Severity of Illness Index. After researchers controlled for diagnosis, severity of illness, age, race, and physician, results in this study indicate that an additional 3.2 days of hospitalization were associated with the VA facility. This finding is consistent with earlier reports of inappropriate hospitalization at the VA hospital and suggests that VA facility planners need to evaluate whether longer lengths of stay (LOS) are merited.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 928-936 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Medical Care |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1989 |
Keywords
- Length of stay
- Private sector
- Severity of illness
- Veterans administration
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health