Referral by outreach specialist reduces hospitalisation costs of rural patients with digestive tract cancer: a report from medical consortium in China.

Introduction: The authors examined the effect of referrals from outreach specialists on total hospitalisation costs of rural Chinese patients receiving surgical treatment for digestive tract cancer at a tertiary hospital within a vertically integrated medical consortium.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted within the Taiyuan Central Hospital medical consortium between January 2008 and December 2010. This consortium consists of Taiyuan Central Hospital (a tertiary hospital) and three county hospitals in Taiyuan city, the capital of Shanxi province in China.