Effect of Medical Fee Schedule Revisions on the Expansion of Nutritional Support Teams in Japan: An Interrupted Time-series Analysis.

Introduction: In 2018, the fee schedule for nutrition support teams (NSTs) in Japanese hospitals was changed. The change was intended to encourage more hospitals to establish NSTs, and this study aims to investigate whether this change had the desired effect. Specifically, we will look at the proportion of hospitals with NSTs before and after the 2018 revision to see if there was a significant increase in the number of hospitals with NSTs.

Methods: The study analyzed administrative data from 10 Japanese prefectures dating from June 2015 to September 2021 using an interrupted time-series design. The analysis focused on all acute care hospitals within these prefectures and measured the percentage of hospitals with NSTs. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on hospital size and functions. In April 2018, the intervention, a fee schedule revision, was implemented.

Results: We analyzed 1,471 acute care hospitals. Immediately after the intervention, the percentage of hospitals with NSTs increased by 4.59% (95% CI = 3.92%, 5.26%) and by 0.66% (95% CI = 0.57%, 0.75%) quarterly thereafter. We observed a marked increase in NST formation among large-sized (20.9%), medium-sized (28.0%), and highly acute care hospitals (hospitals with emergency medical care centers and intensive care units, 22.3% and 23.6%, respectively). We also noted a moderate increase among hospitals with convalescent rehabilitation units (10.1%) and a modest increase among small-sized hospitals (6.9%).

Conclusions: Relaxation of the NST fee requirement increased the proportion of hospitals with NSTs in Japan, especially among larger and highly acute care hospitals.