1. Dialysis Costs for a Health System Participating in Value-Based Care.
- Author
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Wong, Leslie P., Ghosh, Anindita, Jianbo Li, Rizk, Maged K., and Hohman, Jessica A.
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CRASH carts (Emergency medicine) , *STATISTICS , *KRUSKAL-Wallis Test , *PATIENT participation , *CONFIDENCE intervals , *ANALYSIS of variance , *MULTIVARIATE analysis , *ONE-way analysis of variance , *MEDICAL care costs , *RETROSPECTIVE studies , *MANN Whitney U Test , *VALUE-based healthcare , *TREATMENT effectiveness , *HEMODIALYSIS , *HEALTH systems agencies , *INTEGRATED health care delivery , *ODDS ratio , *LOGISTIC regression analysis , *CENTRAL venous catheters , *MEDICARE - Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Unplanned "crash" dialysis starts are associated with worse outcomes and higher costs, a challenging problem for health systems participating in value-based care (VBC). We examined expenditures and utilization associated with these events in a large health system. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective, single-center study at Cleveland Clinic, a large, integrated health system participating in VBC contracts, including a Medicare accountable care organization. METHODS: We analyzed beneficiaries who transitioned to dialysis between 2017 and 2020. Crash starts involved initiating inpatient hemodialysis (HD) with a central venous catheter (CVC). Optimal starts were initiated with either home dialysis or outpatient HD without a CVC. Suboptimal starts were initiated with outpatient HD with a CVC or inpatient HD without a CVC. RESULTS: A total of 495 patients initiated chronic dialysis: 260 crash starts, 130 optimal starts, and 105 suboptimal starts. Median predialysis 12-month cost was $67,059 for crash starts, $17,891 for optimal starts, and $7633 for suboptimal starts (P < .001). Median postdialysis 12-month cost was $71,992 for crash starts, $55,427 for optimal starts, and $72,032 for suboptimal starts (P = .001). Predialysis inpatient admission per 1000 beneficiaries was 1236 per 1000 for crash starts vs 273 per 1000 for optimal starts and 170 per 1000 for suboptimal starts (P < .001). Postdialysis inpatient admission for crash starts was 853 per 1000 vs 291 per 1000 for optimal starts and 184 per 1000 for suboptimal starts (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: In a major health system, crash starts demonstrated the highest cost and hospital utilization, a pattern that persisted after dialysis initiation. Developing strategies to promote optimal starts will improve VBC contract performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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