Do Specialty Hospitals Provide Better Care?
Reported April 8, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — If your doctor says you need bypass surgery or another treatment to clear clogged arteries, where should you seek treatment? At a general hospital or a hospital that specializes in cardiac care?
Thats the question researchers set out to answer in a new study in this weeks The New England Journal of Medicine. Noting the federal government recently placed a moratorium on the establishment of new specialty hospitals due to concerns over their costs and possible impact on general hospitals, they launched an investigation comparing outcomes for patients receiving bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at specialty and general hospitals.
Results showed patients receiving these procedures at specialty hospitals did have lower mortality rates, but they were also healthier going into the surgery. After adjusting the findings to take patient health into account, results show no difference in mortality rates between specialty hospitals and general hospitals for those receiving PCI. But patients having bypass surgery did fare better in the specialty hospitals.
However, specialty hospitals also performed a higher volume of the procedures than general hospitals, which researchers believe could explain some of the difference seen in the bypass group. When they compared specialty hospitals and general hospitals with similar patient volumes, the difference in mortality for bypass surgery also disappeared.
The authors believe their findings have important implications for public health, noting future policies and procedures governing specialty hospitals should take into account the cost and quality of these hospitals, along with their impact on access to care and the use of health care services.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2005;352:1454-1462