Medical Staff

Inpatient pediatric care costs reduced

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, February 14, 2011

A multidisciplinary hospital team can help reduce inpatient and emergency care costs, according to a new study, “Effect of hospital-based comprehensive care clinic on health costs for Medicaid-insured medically complex children,” published in the February Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock compared the healthcare costs of medically complex children at a hospital-based multidisciplinary clinic to the costs before they were enrolled at the clinic. Looking at medical costs associated with outpatient, inpatient, and emergency care, as well as prescription drugs, the researchers found that with the clinic care, the annual mean cost per child decreased by $1,766 for inpatient care each month. In addition, emergency department care was cut by only $6.00. However, outpatient claims and prescription costs increased. Despite those increases, the overall Medicaid costs per patient decreased by $1,179 per month.

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