Have Dutch Hospitals Saved Lives and Reduced Costs? A longitudinal patient-level analysis over the years 2013-2017.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the ongoing Dutch health system reforms and identify whether hospital costs and hospital outcomes have changed over time. We present an empirical analysis that is based on granular micro-costing data and focuses on conditions for which mortality is indicative of outcome quality, that is, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), chronic heart failure (CHF), and pneumonia (PNE). We deploy a dataset of more than 80,000 inpatient episodes over 5 years (2013-2017) to estimate regression models that control for variation between patients and hospitals.

Utilization of diagnostic resources and costs in patients with suspected cardiac chest pain.

Aims: Non-acute chest pain is a common complaint and can be caused by various conditions. With the rising healthcare expenditures of today, it is necessary to use our healthcare resources effectively. This study aims to give insight into the diagnostic effort and costs for patients with non-acute chest pain.