Examining cost variation across hospital departments–a two-stage multi-level approach using patient-level data

Examining cost variation across hospital departments--a two-stage multi-level approach using patient-level data.

Studies of hospital efficiency seldom lead to changes in practice, partly because recommendations are unspecific or results are not seen as robust. We describe a method to compare hospital costs that utilises patient-level data. We perform a two-stage analysis in which we first consider factors that explain costs among patients and then across hospital departments. We illustrate our approach by...

Automatic Thresholding of Gray-level Using Multi-stage Approach

A multi-stage approach is presented for thresholding document images, along with its application. The proposed method is based on two stages. Global thresholding is used in first stage to give a preliminary result. A second stage then refines the threshold value based on local spatial characteristics of the regions formed in the first stage. It automatically customizes the thresholding of regio...

Estimating treatment effects with observational data: A new approach using hospital-level variation in treatment intensity

Multi-Level Implementation of Asynchronous Logic Using Two-Level Nodes

A novel synthesis method of a dual-rail asynchronous multi-level logic is proposed. The logic is implemented as a monotonous multi-level network of minimized AND-OR nodes together with the completion detection logic. Each node is a hazard-free structure. It is achieved based on the product term minimization constraint that the authors have formulated and proved in their previous paper. The MCNC...

Investigating Patient Rights and Associated Demographic and Hospital Factors Using Approach of Two-Level Linear Regression Models In the Hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

One of the main issues in hospitals is evaluation of efficiency and effectiveness. For this purpose, several indicators are presented, which are known as functional indicators. If the performance of hospitals depends on the patient's demographic characteristics, overlooking effect of hospital indicators, as an effective factor at a higher level on the patient rights, may lead to inaccurate conc...