Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background There are limited data on the mechanisms increased healthcare costs among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Differences in expenditures at various sites service may provide mechanistic insight into cost differentials between and without AF. Objective To assess for associations device detected AF (ddAF). Methods Us...

OBJECTIVE To describe the resource utilization and care of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients in a managed care plan. METHODS This was a retrospective claims analysis of a nationwide managed care medical and pharmacy database from September 1, 1998, to July 31, 2001. Twenty-seven health plans in 19 states distributed across the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest United States wer...

In the present study the ELISA test was used to investigate the influence of chemically-induced ileitis on the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons in the pig. The preliminary retrograde fluorescent tracing study revealed that ileum-projecting sensory neurones (IPN) are located in the thoracic ganglia (Th; Th8-Th13). The ileum wall in experimental (E) pigs was subjected to multiple injection with ...

A model calculation was used to assess whether the G-DRG version 1.0 sufficiently represents integrated internal psychosomatic treatment of patients with psychosomatic disorders in relation to diagnosis and resource consumption. The DRGs of the Major Diagnostic Category "Mental Diseases" of the German DRG calculation sample 1.0 (diagnoses, procedures, cost weights) were analyzed. In a division ...

This study investigates dynamic incentives to select patients for hospitals that are remunerated according to a prospective payment system of the diagnosis-related group (DRG) type. Using a model with patients differing in severity within a DRG, we show that price dynamics depend on the extent of hospital altruism and the relation between patients' severity and benefit. Upwards and downwards pr...

Single-incision laparoscopic surgery has gained increasing attention due to its potential to improve the benefits of laparoscopic surgery. However, inconvenience remains for inexperienced surgeons during surgery when instruments conflict with each other, and a glove port is used hesitantly for such diagnosis related groups (DRG) because of its high cost. Authors made a new glove port by an odd ...

Treating chronic neuropathic pain remains a challenge, despite the existing therapies. Recent years have seen the emergence of promising new technologies, such as the neurostimulation of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). In the present article, we review the clinical evidence for the efficacy and safety of DRG neurostimulation in the treatment of chronic pain. While the results from a number of s...

BACKGROUND Psychiatric comorbidities are relevant for the diagnostic and therapeutic regimes in somatic hospital care. The main aim of this study was to analyse the association between psychiatric comorbidities and hospital costs per inpatient episode. A further aim was to discuss and address the methodological challenges in the estimation of these outcomes based on retrospective data. METHOD...

Background During the last two decades, most countries including developed and developing have experienced a rapid increase in health care expenditures in general, and hospital expenditures in particular. DRG-based reimbursement systems were introduced to control healthcare and hospital expenditure, increase activity levels and standardize care. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical ...