Evaluation of hospital practices may offer opportunities for cost reduction
TUESDAY, July 14, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The estimated facility cost for low-risk childbirths varies among hospitals by nearly $10,000 across the United States, according to research published in the July issue of Health Affairs.
Childbirth is the leading reason for hospitalization in the United States, but there has been little comparison of the costs of having a baby at hospitals across the nation, the Yale School of Medicine researchers noted.
The analysis of 2011 data from 463 hospitals nationwide found the average bill for a maternity stay ranged from $1,189 to $11,986. Costs at hospitals with higher rates of cesarean delivery or serious pregnancy complications were much higher than those with lower rates.
“Hospital practices might be an important contributor to the variation in costs, and there may be opportunities for cost reduction,” team leader Xiao Xu, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale, said in a school news release. “These may include safely reducing cesarean deliveries, increasing the coordination of care, and emphasizing the value of care through new payment and delivery systems.”
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