Evanston, IL, Sept. 14, 2000 — Today the HCIA-Sachs Institute released two clinical research studies that compare the recommended hospital stays for pediatric patients with actual pediatric hospital stays. The studies show that the recommended hospital stay guidelines are consistently shorter than the actual practices of the nation’s hospitals, even the most efficient and well-managed hospitals — the 100 Top Hospitals.

The studies compare the pediatric "goal length of stay" guidelines published by Milliman & Robertson, Inc., an actuarial and consulting company, to actual lengths of hospital stay for 45 conditions from both a national sample of pediatric inpatient data and 100 Top Hospitals pediatric benchmarks. The studies, Comparison of Milliman & Robertson Pediatric Length of Stay Guidelines with Empirical Results for Inpatient Data and the 100 Top Hospitals™ Pediatric LOS Comparison with Non-Winners and Milliman & Robertson Guidelines, showed nearly two-thirds of uncomplicated pediatric patients stayed in the hospital longer than the Milliman & Robertson goals suggest. In some cases, the hospital stays were markedly longer.

Milliman & Robertson’s pediatric hospital stay guidelines are used by a number of major national managed care organizations. "Managed care organizations and other insurers use published guidelines to help determine how long patients should stay in the hospital," said Jean Chenoweth, executive director of the HCIA-Sachs Institute. "Milliman & Robertson recommend that their guidelines be used only for uncomplicated cases. However, according to the Institute’s studies, their guidelines recommend shorter stays for some diseases in which as high as 85 percent of the children admitted to hospitals have complications. The use of Milliman & Robertson’s pediatric guidelines could create a huge potential for putting the sickest children at risk unnecessarily."

Both studies were conducted using 1998 data from HCIA-Sachs’ all-payer inpatient database that contains over 3.5 million pediatric discharges. Based on the year of data used, the studies compare differences in actual pediatric stays prior to the implementation of the Milliman & Robertson pediatric guidelines across the health care industry.

HCIA-Sachs leads the health care industry in providing payers, providers, employers, consultants, and pharmaceutical companies with relevant strategic intelligence. HCIA-Sachs supplies clients with effective and innovative solutions for growing revenue, benchmarking and measuring results, and understanding consumers. HCIA-Sachs' solutions are e-enabled to streamline decision-making.

The HCIA-Sachs Institute is the research and education division of HCIA-Sachs. The Institute is dedicated to the improvement of the health care industry through improved information. The Institute produces 100 Top Hospitals and Clinical Research Program studies and publishes white papers—authoritative research reports, often clinical or financial — that explore the impact of legislation, new technologies, and clinical breakthroughs on the health care industry.

The 100 Top Hospitals studies provide the benchmarks for performance set by the nation’s health care institutions. The objective of the program is to establish annual targets of performance and monitor emerging trends in benchmark information while continually enhancing the methodologies by which health care institutions are evaluated.

Clinical Research Program studies are dedicated to identifying the treatment patterns of 100 Top Hospitals award winners. The Institute produces clinical research studies, in conjunction with its Advisory Board, to improve clinical quality and delivery of care while providing education to the health care community.

CONTACTS:

Media:
Kerry Lydon-Minton
Solucient LLC
(847) 475-7526 ext. 2112
klydon@solucient.com.com  

###