Emma Medin

Health care performance comparison using a disease-based approach: The EuroHOPE project

This article describes the methodological challenges associated with disease-based international comparison of health system performance and how they have been addressed in the EuroHOPE (European Health Care Outcomes, Performance and Efficiency) project. The project uses linkable patient-level data available from national sources of Finland, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The data allow measuring the outcome and the use of resources in uniformly-defined patient groups using standardized risk adjustment procedures in the participating countries. The project concentrates on five important disease groups: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), ischemic stroke, hip fracture, breast cancer and very low birth weight and preterm infants (VLBWI). The essentials of data gathering, the definition of the episode of care, the developed indicators concerning baseline statistics, treatment process, cost and outcomes are described. The preliminary results indicate that the disease-based approach is attractive for international performance analyses, because it produces various measures not only at country level but also at regional and hospital level across countries. The possibility of linking hospital discharge register to other databases and the availability of comprehensive register data will determine whether the approach can be expanded to other diseases and countries.

Measuring cost efficiency in the Nordic Hospitals—a cross-sectional comparison of public hospitals in 2002

The aim of this study was to compare the performance of hospital care in four Nordic countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Using national discharge registries and cost data from hospitals, cost efficiency in the production of somatic hospital care was calculated for public hospitals. Data were collected using harmonised definitions of inputs and outputs for 184 hospitals and data envelopment analysis was used to calculate Farrell efficiency estimates for the year 2002. Results suggest that there were marked differences in the average hospital efficiency between Nordic countries. In 2002, average efficiency was markedly higher in Finland compared to Norway and Sweden. This study found differences in cost efficiency that cannot be explained by input prices or differences in coding practices. More analysis is needed to reveal the causes of large efficiency disparities between Nordic hospitals.

Comparing ischaemic stroke in six European countries. The EuroHOPE register study.

The incidence of hospitalizations, treatment and case fatality of ischaemic stroke were assessed utilizing a comprehensive multinational database to attempt to compare the healthcare systems in six European countries, aiming also to identify the limitations and make suggestions for future improvements in the between‐country comparisons.

Cost efficiency of university hospitals in the Nordic countries: a cross-country analysis

This paper estimates cost efficiency scores using the bootstrap bias-corrected procedure, including variables for teaching and research, for the performance of university hospitals in the Nordic countries. Previous research has shown that hospital provision of research and education interferes with patient care routines and inflates the costs of health care services, turning university hospitals into outliers in comparative productivity and efficiency analyses. The organisation of patient care, medical education and clinical research as well as available data at the university hospital level are highly similar in the Nordic countries, creating a data set of comparable decision-making units suitable for a cross-country cost efficiency analysis. The results demonstrate significant differences in university hospital cost efficiency when variables for teaching and research are entered into the analysis, both between and within the Nordic countries. The results of a second-stage analysis show that the most important explanatory variables are geographical location of the hospital and the share of discharges with a high case weight. However, a substantial amount of the variation in cost efficiency at the university hospital level remains unexplained.

European Regional Differences in All‐Cause Mortality and Length of Stay for Patients with Hip Fracture

The objective of this study was to compare healthcare performance for the surgical treatment of hip fractures across and within Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, and Sweden. Differences in age-adjusted and sex-adjusted 30-day and one-year all-cause mortality rates following hip fracture, as well as the length of stay of the first hospital episode in acute care and during a follow up of 365 days, were investigated, and associations between selected country-level and regional-level factors with mortality and length of stay were assessed. Hungary showed the highest one-year mortality rate (mean 39.7%) and the lowest length of stay in one year (12.7 days), whereas Italy had the lowest one-year mortality rate (mean 19.1 %) and the highest length of stay (23.3 days). The observed variations were largely explained by country-specific effects rather than by regional-level factors. The results show that there should still be room for efficiency gains in the acute treatment of hip fracture, and clinicians, healthcare managers, and politicians should learn from best practices. This study demonstrates that an international comparison of acute hospital care is possible using pooled individual-level administrative data.

International hospital productivity comparison: Experiences from the Nordic countries

This article focuses on describing the methodological challenges intrinsic in international comparative studies of hospital productivity and how these challenges have been addressed within the context of hospital comparisons in the Nordic countries. The hospital sectors in the Nordic countries are suitable for international comparison as they exhibit similar structures in the organisation for hospital care, hold administrative data of good quality at the hospital level, apply a similar secondary patient classification system, and use similar definitions of operating costs. The results of a number of studies have suggested marked differences in hospital cost efficiency and hospital productivity across the Nordic countries and the Finnish hospitals have the highest estimates in all the analyses. Explanatory factors that were tested and seemed to be of limited importance included institutional, structural and technical. A factor that is yet to be included in the Nordic hospital productivity comparison is the quality of care. Patient-level data available from linkable national registers in each country enable the development of quality indicators and will be included in the forthcoming hospital productivity studies within the context of the EuroHOPE (European health care outcomes, performance and efficiency) project.

Prevalence, Patient Characteristics, and Pharmacological Treatment of Children, Adolescents, and Adults Diagnosed With ADHD in Sweden.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology of diagnosed ADHD and the pharmacological treatment of patients with ADHD in Sweden. Specifically, this study estimates the prevalence of patients with a newly registered diagnosis of ADHD over a 5-year period, and the prevalence of all patients with a registered ADHD diagnoses over a 6-year period in Sweden. Method: Two population-based registries were used as data sources for this study; the National Patient Register (NPR) and the Prescribed Drug Register (PDR). The international Classification of Diseases 10th Revison (ICD-10) was used to identify patients with ADHD. Results: The annual prevalence of ADHD in the general population of Sweden was found to be 1.1 per 1,000 persons in the year 2006 increasing to 4.8 per 1,000 persons in 2011. The corresponding prevalence for newly diagnosed patients increased from 0.6 per 1,000 persons in 2007 to 1.3 per 1,000 persons in 2011. The majority of diagnosed patients received pharmacological treatment, with methylphenidate being the most common dispensed drug. Comorbidities in the autism spectrum were most common for younger patients, while substance abuse, anxiety, and personality disorder were the most common comorbidities in older patients. Conclusion: From 2006 to 2011, the number of patients diagnosed with ADHD has increased in Sweden over all ages. The majority of patients diagnosed with ADHD in Sweden received a pharmacological treatment regardless of age. An ADHD diagnosis was often accompanied with psychiatric comorbidity.

European Regional Differences in All-Cause Mortality and Length of Stay for Patients with Hip Fracture

The objective of this study was to compare healthcare performance for the surgical treatment of hip fractures across and within Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, and Sweden. Differences in age-adjusted and sex-adjusted 30-day and one-year all-cause mortality rates following hip fracture, as well as the length of stay of the first hospital episode in acute care and during a follow up of 365 days, were investigated, and associations between selected country-level and regional-level factors with mortality and length of stay were assessed. Hungary showed the highest one-year mortality rate (mean 39.7%) and the lowest length of stay in one year (12.7 days), whereas Italy had the lowest one-year mortality rate (mean 19.1 %) and the highest length of stay (23.3 days). The observed variations were largely explained by country-specific effects rather than by regional-level factors. The results show that there should still be room for efficiency gains in the acute treatment of hip fracture, and clinicians, healthcare managers, and politicians should learn from best practices. This study demonstrates that an international comparison of acute hospital care is possible using pooled individual-level administrative data.

Costs and Quality at the Hospital Level in the Nordic Countries

This article develops and analyzes patient register-based measures of quality for the major Nordic countries. Previous studies show that Finnish hospitals have significantly higher average productivity than hospitals in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway and also a substantial variation within each country. This paper examines whether quality differences can form part of the explanation and attempts to uncover quality-cost trade-offs. Data on costs and discharges in each diagnosis-related group for 160 acute hospitals in 2008-2009 were collected. Patient register-based measures of quality such as readmissions, mortality (in hospital or outside), and patient safety indices were developed and case-mix adjusted. Productivity is estimated using bootstrapped data envelopment analysis. Results indicate that case-mix adjustment is important, and there are significant differences in the case-mix adjusted performance measures as well as in productivity both at the national and hospital levels. For most quality indicators, the performance measures reveal room for improvement. There is a weak but statistical significant trade-off between productivity and inpatient readmissions within 30 days but a tendency that hospitals with high 30-day mortality also have higher costs. Hence, no clear cost-quality trade-off pattern was discovered. Patient registers can be used and developed to improve future quality and cost comparisons.

Costs and Quality at the Hospital Level in the Nordic Countries.

This article develops and analyzes patient register-based measures of quality for the major Nordic countries. Previous studies show that Finnish hospitals have significantly higher average productivity than hospitals in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway and also a substantial variation within each country. This paper examines whether quality differences can form part of the explanation and attempts to uncover quality-cost trade-offs. Data on costs and discharges in each diagnosis-related group for 160 acute hospitals in 2008-2009 were collected. Patient register-based measures of quality such as readmissions, mortality (in hospital or outside), and patient safety indices were developed and case-mix adjusted. Productivity is estimated using bootstrapped data envelopment analysis. Results indicate that case-mix adjustment is important, and there are significant differences in the case-mix adjusted performance measures as well as in productivity both at the national and hospital levels. For most quality indicators, the performance measures reveal room for improvement. There is a weak but statistical significant trade-off between productivity and inpatient readmissions within 30 days but a tendency that hospitals with high 30-day mortality also have higher costs. Hence, no clear cost-quality trade-off pattern was discovered. Patient registers can be used and developed to improve future quality and cost comparisons.