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Prospective Payment and Infection Control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

B. Eugene Beyt Jr.*
Affiliation:
Infection Control and Internal Audit Department, Lafayette General Hospital, Lafayette, Louisiana and the Department of Infectious Diseases, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
Susan Troxler
Affiliation:
Infection Control and Internal Audit Department, Lafayette General Hospital, Lafayette, Louisiana and the Department of Infectious Diseases, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
Joel Cavaness
Affiliation:
Infection Control and Internal Audit Department, Lafayette General Hospital, Lafayette, Louisiana and the Department of Infectious Diseases, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
*
Louisiana State University School of Medicine, University Medical Center, P.O. Box 4016-C, Lafayette, LA 70502

Extract

Under prospective payment utilizing the diagnostic related groups (DRG) classification, hospital administrators have begun to rethink accepted hospital procedures. It is now necessary to consider every factor that contributes to the cost of care, because those costs will be borne more and more by the hospital rather than the patient. Administrators must determine if an expenditure really improves the quality of care and shortens the length of stay. Unfortunately, in many cases there are no mechanisms or criteria for such an evaluation. The health care industry is in danger of cutting away tissue when the fat is being trimmed away. An effort tojustify and quantify the benefit of an infection control program in a 270-bed acute care general hospital led to eye-opening results, and a decision to expand the program rather than reduce it. The expanded program is expected to recover cost two-fold.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1985

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