Economic benefit of a 1-day reduction in hospital stay for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)

Figures & data

Table 1.  CAP hospitalizations which qualified for the analysis (day 3 through day 14) and their mean cost, LOS, cost/day by various sub-groups. (reported in 2009 dollars).

	n*	%	Cost per hospitalization ($)		LOS (length of stay)		Mean cost per day ($)
			Mean	SE	Mean	SE
Total	1,471,295	100	14,283	185.2	6.3	0.02	2,273
Discharge alive	1,380,997	94	13,696	179.4	6.2	0.02	2,200
Died in hospital	90,298	6	23,251	327.9	7.2	0.03	3,227
Age <65	483,258	33	15,155	206.1	6.2	0.02	2,462
Age ≥65	988,037	67	13,856	183.5	6.3	0.02	2,182
Females	785,079	53	13,718	185.7	6.3	0.02	2,190
Males	686,216	47	14,929	188.8	6.3	0.02	2,367
White†	812,635	76	13,958	201.1	6.3	0.02	2,221
African-American†	126,253	12	15,204	522.0	6.6	0.04	2,320
All other†	134,101	12	16,797	489.9	6.4	0.04	2,614
Northeast	271,725	18	16,443	680.7	6.5	0.05	2,540
Midwest	376,020	26	13,262	267.7	6.1	0.03	2,190
South	592,656	40	12,270	180.0	6.4	0.02	1,932
West	230,894	16	18,571	481.6	6.3	0.04	2,962
Urban	1,169,065	79	15,055	227.3	6.4	0.02	2,344
Rural	302,231	21	11,298	201.5	5.8	0.04	1,962
Large	828,210	56	15,062	282.8	6.5	0.02	2,333
Medium	381,286	26	14,235	297.9	6.3	0.03	2,270
Small	261,799	18	11,886	308.5	5.8	0.04	2,059

*n-values may vary slightly due to the estimation procedure.

†The sample size for race does not sum to the total because of missing values.

SE, standard error.

Table 2.  Cost savings potentially achieved by making a CAP hospitalization ‘1-day-reduced’ by selected admission or hospital characteristics, comparing three methods for estimating the economic benefit of a ‘1-day-reduced’ CAP hospitalization. (reported in 2009 dollars).

Categorical variable	Level	Average cost per day of hospitalization ($)	Average cost per incremental day of hospitalization* ($)	Predicted cost (regression) per incremental day of hospitalization* ($)
All discharges	All CAP discharges	2,273	2,373	2,319
Discharge status	Discharged alive	2,200	2,286	2,273
	Died in hospital	3,227	3,114	3,026
Age group	0 < age < 65	2,462	2,659	2,532†
	Age ≥65	2,182	2,244	2,245‡
Gender	Male	2,367	2,491	2,392
	Female	2,190	2,267	2,254
Hospital region	Northeast	2,540	2,320	2,591
	Midwest	2,190	2,310	2,302
	South	1,932	1,967	2,039
	West	2,962	3,184	3,057
Hospital location	Rural	1,962	1,899	2,098
	Urban	2,344	2,458	2,375
Hospital bed size	Small	2,059	2,097	2,170
	Medium	2,270	2,360	2,307
	Large	2,333	2,433	2,372

Note: Charges converted to cost using cost-to-charge ratios.

*Cost/day is a weighted average by the number of admissions in each LOS group (days 4–14).

†Based on a mean age of 55 years.

‡Based on a mean age of 75 years.

Figure 1.  Cost savings potentially achieved by making a hospitalization ‘1-day-reduced’ by the length of stay of the reference CAP hospitalization, comparing three methods for estimating the economic benefit of a ‘1-day-reduced’ CAP hospitalization (reported in 2009 dollars).

Figure 2.  Potential cost savings which are achieved with a portion of a ‘1-day-reduced’ LOS, comparing three methods for estimating the cost of a ‘1-day-reduced’ CAP hospitalization (reported in 2009 dollars).