Herrod Henry G, Chang Cyril F, Steinberg Stephanie S
Department of Pediatrics, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and The Urban Child Institute, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2010 May;49(5):443-9. doi: 10.1177/0009922809341750. Epub 2009 Jul 30.
To determine the relative role that academic hospitals (AHs) play in providing neonatal care for low-birth-weight infants within a single state and to determine if there are variations in inpatient costs for neonatal services among AHs.
Retrospective analysis of hospital costs for low-birth-weight infants.
Cases were identified using 2003-2005 data from the Tennessee Hospital Discharge Data System. A specific focus was discharge data from the 5 AHs that support obstetrical residencies and have a neonatal intensive care unit.
Cases included all discharged infants with a birth weight of <2500 grams.
The 5 AHs discharged 18% of the total normal-birth-weight infants and 30% of the low-birth-weight infants for the entire state. AHs had higher costs associated with these infants than did other hospitals, with a single exception The difference in costs at this hospital was consistent with the finding of lower utilization rates of hospital services, a shorter average length of stay, and lower costs for infants insured by the state Medicaid program.
Academic obstetrical hospitals discharged a disproportionately high percentage of low-birth-weight infants compared with other Tennessee hospitals. The lower costs observed in the Shelby County hospital indicates that other hospitals could potentially lower their costs for the care of low-birth-weight infants.
确定学术医院（AHs）在为单一州内的低体重婴儿提供新生儿护理方面所起的相对作用，并确定AHs之间新生儿服务的住院费用是否存在差异。
对低体重婴儿的医院费用进行回顾性分析。
使用田纳西州医院出院数据系统2003 - 2005年的数据确定病例。特别关注来自5家支持产科住院医师培训且设有新生儿重症监护病房的AHs的出院数据。
病例包括所有出生体重<2500克的出院婴儿。
这5家AHs出院的正常出生体重婴儿占全州总数的18%，低体重婴儿占30%。与其他医院相比，AHs与这些婴儿相关的费用更高，但有一家医院除外。这家医院的费用差异与医院服务利用率较低、平均住院时间较短以及该州医疗补助计划承保婴儿的费用较低的发现一致。
与田纳西州的其他医院相比，学术产科医院出院的低体重婴儿比例过高。谢尔比县医院观察到的较低费用表明，其他医院有可能降低其照顾低体重婴儿的费用。
