Published 2 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4540
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4540

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English treatment centres are treating less complex patients than hospitals

Roger Dobson

1 Abergavenny

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Dedicated treatment centres in England seem to be treating less complex cases in particular treatment categories than hospitals but are getting the same funding per treatment.

Patients treated in standalone centres dedicated to a small number of high volume elective procedures are less likely to come from deprived areas, have fewer diagnoses, and undergo fewer procedures than hospital patients, concludes a study that was based on data from more than 3.3 million patients (Health Policy doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2009.09.013).

"Our analysis finds evidence that hospitals are treating patients of greater complexity than treatment centres," say the authors, from the Centre for Health Economics, University of York, and other centres. "If these observed differences between hospitals and treatment centres drive costs, then payments should be refined to ensure fair reimbursement."

The study looked at whether the complexity of cases in hospitals and treatment centres differed within 29 payment categories, defined by . . . [Full text of this article]


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ISTCs cherry pick easier cases, obviously enough
Stephen Hayes
bmj.com, 10 Nov 2009 [Full text]
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