Abstract
Purpose :
To determine if ophthalmic infection was associated with increase in cost or duration of stay in those admitted for ocular disease in New York (NY) state from 2010-2017
Methods :
The NY Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) database was queried for discharges categorized by “Major Diseases and Disorders of the Eye” (Code 2, All Patient Refined Major Diagnostic Category). These were subcategorized into those admitted for infections and inflammation related to the eye versus those that were admitted for other reasons, using the Clinical Classifications Software (CCS) Diagnosis code, based on the ICD code associated with the hospital stay. We did a statistical analysis of length of stay, costs and charges between these groups utilizing an unpaired two-tailed t-test.
Results :
32,494 discharges were available for analysis. 4 discharges were excluded as they lacked CCS diagnosis information and 7 were excluded for lacking reliable length of stay or cost data. 32,483 unique discharges were analyzed. 48% were female. Ages were 18% 0 to 17 years old, 10% 18 to 29, 21% 30 to 49, 28% 50 to 69, and 23% 70 and older. The average length of stay was 3.6 days (standard deviation 4.84). The average total patient charges and hospital costs for each admission were $27,900 and $9,888, respectively. Medicare and Medicaid accounted for majority of the primary payment means, accounting for 31% and 32% of discharges each. There were 11,696 admissions associated with a CCS Diagnosis code related to infection or inflammation, accounting for over 1/3 of all discharges (36%). Infection was significantly associated with a longer duration of admission (4.2 days vs. 3.3 days, p-value <0.01). However, these stays were associated with lower charges to the patient and overall cost ($26,211 vs. $28,850, p-value <0.01; $9,234 vs. $10,256 p-value <0.01).
Conclusions :
Across NY state hospital discharges for ophthalmic complaints from 2010-2017, eye infection and/or inflammation was associated with increased length of stay, but overall decreased charges to the patient and overall cost to the healthcare system. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis of ophthalmology patients utilizing the SPARCS database.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.