Early prediction of diagnostic-related groups and estimation of hospital cost by processing clinical notes

As healthcare providers receive fixed amounts of reimbursement for given services under DRG (Diagnosis-Related Groups) payment, DRG codes are valuable for cost monitoring and resource allocation. However, coding is typically performed retrospectively post-discharge. We seek to predict DRGs and DRG-based case mix index (CMI) at early inpatient admission using routine clinical text to estimate hospital cost in an acute setting. We examined a deep learning-based natural language processing (NLP) model to automatically predict per-episode DRGs and corresponding cost-reflecting weights on two cohorts (paid under Medicare Severity (MS) DRG or All Patient Refined (APR) DRG), without human coding efforts. It achieved macro-averaged area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) scores of 0·871 (SD 0·011) on MS-DRG and 0·884 (0·003) on APR-DRG in fivefold cross-validation experiments on the first day of ICU admission. When extended to simulated patient populations to estimate average cost-reflecting weights, the model increased its accuracy over time and obtained absolute CMI error of 2·40 (1·07%) and 12·79% (2·31%), respectively on the first day. As the model could adapt to variations in admission time, cohort size, and requires no extra manual coding efforts, it shows potential to help estimating costs for active patients to support better operational decision-making in hospitals.

Hospitalization Rates and Comorbidities in Patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy in Germany from 2010 to 2017

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) belongs to the disease spectrum of Parkinsonian syndromes. Due to the chronic and progressive neurodegenerative course of the disease, PSP patients often have to be hospitalized to undergo diagnostic and therapeutic measures. The dynamics and characteristics of PSP inpatient treatment in Germany have not been investigated thus far. The current study analyzed trends of inpatient treatment in Germany for the years 2010–2017 based on the German DRG statistics (“diagnostic-related groups”) in the category G23.- (other degenerative diseases of the basal ganglia) and with special focus on PSP (G23.1). Inpatient case numbers of the G23.- category comprised a total of 21,196 patients from 2010–2017, whereas the PSP subcategory (G23.1) amounted to 10,663 cases. In the analyzed time period, PSP patient numbers constantly increased from 963 in 2010 to 1780 in 2017 with yearly growth rates of up to 20%. Similar trends were observed for other Parkinsonian syndromes such as multiple system atrophy (MSA). Differentiating PSP inpatients by gender demonstrated a higher proportion of males (55–60%) in comparison to female patients for the entire observation period. The average age of hospitalized PSP patients over these years was between 72.3 and 73.4 years without relevant differences for gender. The most common comorbidities consisted of cardiovascular, neurological, muscular and urological disorders. In summary, the analysis demonstrates that PSP patients are increasingly hospitalized in Germany and the current concepts of stationary care have to differentiate standard practices for Parkinson’s disease (PD) to also address the needs of patients with PSP and other Parkinsonian syndromes.

Impact of the 13-Valent Conjugated Pneumococcal Vaccine on the Direct Costs of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Requiring Hospital Admission in Children Aged < 5 Years: A Prospective Study

The lack of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) cost studies may underestimate the eect ofpneumococcal polysaccharide conjugated vaccines (PCV). The objective of this study was to estimatethe direct costs of hospitalized IPD cases. A prospective study was made in children aged <5 yearsdiagnosed with IPD in two high-tech hospitals in Catalonia (Spain) between 2007–2009 (PCV7 period)and 2012–2015 (PCV13 period). Costs were calculated according to 2014 Catalan Health Service ratesusing diagnostic-related groups. In total, 319 and 154 cases were collected, respectively. Pneumoniahad the highest cost (65.7% and 62.0%, respectively), followed by meningitis (25.8% and 26.1%,respectively). During 2007–2015, the costs associated with PCV7 serotypes (Pearson coecient (Pc) =?0.79; p = 0.036) and additional PCV13 serotypes (Pc = ?0.75; p = 0.05) decreased, but those of otherserotypes did not (Pc = 0.23 p = 0.62). The total mean cost of IPD increased in the PCV13 period by31.4% (¿3016.1 vs. ¿3963.9), mainly due to ICU stay (77.4%; ¿1051.4 vs. ¿1865.6). During the PCV13period, direct IPD costs decreased due to a reduction in the number of cases, but cases were more severe and had a higher mean cost. During 2015, IPD costs increased due to an increase in the costsassociated with non-PCV13 serotypes and serotype 3 and this requires further investigation.

Improving the Access to Radionuclide Therapy for Prostate Cancer within Compulsory Health Insurance System at the Regional Level: Experience of the Kemerovo Region

The article discusses issues of antineoplastic radiation, particularly radionuclide, therapy payment through compulsory health insurance system. Healthcare organization faces several problems in this field when introducing new treatment methods. Regulatory and infrastructural aspects of the radionuclide therapy provision are brought up. The article discusses the problem raised by the average payment for the diagnostic-related groups (DRG) at the federal level, which makes it difficult to use selected medical services with the cost above the average DRG tariff. As an example, the article describes the experience of Kemerovo region on tariff correction using subgroup split-off method for DRG that includes systemic radionuclide therapy with radium-223. Splitting the federal DRG for sub-groups gave the possibility of providing therapy to patients with prostate cancer in the region. Besides, the authors discuss the relevance and practical aspects of interregional payments in the compulsory healthcare insurance system with respect to the radionuclide therapy in order to improve the quality of medical care for patients with cancer, regardless of infrastructural restrictions and the patients’ residence.

Optimization of Costs of Inpatient Medical Care for Patients that Need Selective Antidotes to Muscle Relaxants after Abdominal Surgery

The article thoroughly considers the algorithm of substantiation of tariff changes for completed cases paid at the expense of obligatory health insurance by diagnostic-related groups on the level of Russian regions. The analysis is performed on the example of patients, who need fast recovery of neuromuscular conductivity after administration of muscle relaxants during abdominal surgical operations including cholecystectomy. The data from the official statistical report forms on the number of abdominal surgical interventions for 2005–2017 were used. The results on the frequency of the use of muscle relaxants were based on the data obtained from medical organizations in different regions of Russia. The analysis of the procurement of muscle relaxants was performed using the data from the analytical system for monitoring of such procurement.

ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF TREATMENTOF PATIENTS WITH OSTEOARTHRITIS IN SAINT-PETERSBURG AND ITS PERSPECTIVES

The article analyzed the features of the existing system of treatment’s payment in patients with osteoarthritis. The main features of the billing during the transition of the patients hospitalization pay- ment to the system using diagnostic-related groups defines. The main advantages and disadvantages of these systems are analyzed, ways of the economic results optimization of osteoarthritis patients treat- ment are determined with in connection with the planned transition to payment using the clinical- statistical groups. Presented method of the economic efficiency evaluation of paying for treatment can be recommended for use in any other nosological forms of diseases.