Researchers at Alfred Hospital Release New Data on Medical Devices and Surgical Technology [Hospital Costs and Factors Associated With Days Alive and At Home After Surgery (Dah(30))]: Medical Devices and Surgical Technology

2022 AUG 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Research findings on Medical Devices and Surgical Technology are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Melbourne, Australia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “To assess the relationships of patient and surgical factors and hospital costs with the number of days alive and at home during the 30 days following surgery (DAH(30)). Retrospective cohort study; analysis of Medibank Private health insurance hospital claims data, Australia, 1 January 2016 - 31 December 2017.”

Financial supporters for this research include Monash University, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Alfred Hospital, “participants: Admissions of adults (18 years or older) to hospitals for elective or emergency inpatient surgery with anaesthesia covered by private health insurance, Australia, 1 January 2016 - 31 December 2017. Associations between DAH(30) and total hospital costs, and between DAH(30) and surgery risk factors. Complete data were available for 126 788 of 181 281 eligible patients (69.9%); their median age was 62 years (IQR, 47-73 years), 72 872 were women (57%), and 115 117 had undergone elective surgery (91%). The median DAH(30) was 27.1 days (IQR, 24.2-28.8 days), the median hospital cost per patient was $10 358 (IQR, $6624-20 174). The association between DAH(30) and total hospital costs was moderate (Spearman rho = -0.60; P< 0.001). Median DAH(30) declined with age, comorbidity score, ASA physical status score, and surgical severity and duration, and was also lower for women. DAH(30) is a validated, patient-centred outcome measure of post-surgical outcomes; higher values reflect shorter hospital stays and fewer serious complications, re-admissions, and deaths.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “DAH(30) can be used to benchmark quality of surgical care and to monitor quality improvement programs for reducing the costs of surgical and other peri-operative care.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Hospital Costs and Factors Associated With Days Alive and At Home After Surgery (Dah(30)). The Medical Journal of Australia, 2022. The Medical Journal of Australia can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Paul S. Myles, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Vic, Australia. Additional authors for this research include Jennifer R. Reilly, Wendy A. Brown, Darren Wong, Stephane R. Heritier, Toby Richards and Max Bell.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51658. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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