NCJ Number
166669
Journal
American Journal on Addictions Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1997) Pages: 193-204
Date Published
1997
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The authors measured the comorbid effect of alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems on medical, surgical, and psychiatric inpatient charges and length of stay (LOS) in an urban hospital based on retrospective study of hospital clinical computer data comparing AOD-affected patients with non-AOD-affected patients in terms of cost, diagnostic, demographic, and utilization variables.
Abstract
The sample of 14,768 patients included men and women with and without comorbid history of AOD problems who were admitted for medical, surgical, and psychiatric reasons. For 10 of the 20 most frequent diagnostic-related groups (DRG's), total hospital charges and LOS were significantly lower in patients with comorbid AOD problems. Overall, for the most frequent 20 DRG's, total charges and LOS remained significantly lower for the AOD group. Most physicians believed that AOD-affected patients were often less ill than non-AOD patients within the same DRG. AOD- affected patients had robustly lower costs and LOS. Fragmentation of psychosocial costs and addiction treatment from general health care and the fee-for-service DRG system appeared to financially reward acute care hospitals to repeatedly treat secondary AOD sequelae without providing any apparent incentives for treating the primary AOD condition itself. 23 references, 6 tables, and 1 figure