Marty A T, Matar A F, Danielson R, O'Reilly R
Ann Thorac Surg. 1977 Nov;24(5):409-16. doi: 10.1016/s0003-4975(10)63433-9.
Based on 417 itemized bills from 45 American hospitals that responded to a randomized, geographically stratified survey covering January to June, 1976, the middle 50% of hospital charges for cardiac operations ranged between $5,914 and $10,315. Nonitemizing hospitals submitted lower, but less accurate, estimates. As 60% of the itemized bill consisted of high charge/cost items such as laboratory and pharmacy fees, total charges were not lowered merely by increasing case load or decreasing operating room times. Careful individualization of services in 1 hospital, however, reduced charges up to 16%. Charge per day was a poor index of efficiency because patients staying longer had lower average daily charges. The variation in hospital charges and lack of accounting uniformity preclude meaningful quantitation of either the "typical" charge or the numerator of the cost/benefit ratio for cardiac operations.
根据45家美国医院对1976年1月至6月进行的一项随机、按地理分层调查的回应所提供的417份明细账单，心脏手术医院收费的中间50%在5914美元至10315美元之间。未提供明细的医院给出的估计值较低，但准确性也较差。由于明细账单的60%由实验室和药房费用等高收费/高成本项目组成，总费用并不会仅仅因为增加病例数量或缩短手术室时间而降低。然而，一家医院对服务进行仔细的个性化安排后，费用降低了16%。每日收费并不是效率的良好指标，因为住院时间较长的患者平均每日收费较低。医院收费的差异以及缺乏会计一致性使得无法对心脏手术的“典型”收费或成本效益比的分子进行有意义的量化。
