ASH Clinical News February 2016 | Page 28

Data Stream Costs Coast to Coast Looking for a cheap stay in the hospital? You might want to head to Louisville, Kentucky, according to an analysis of insurance claims data to determine how health spending varies across the United States. An average inpatient stay varied by up to $5,644 depending on a patient’s location. Average cost of an inpatient stay was $12,671, but here are the 10 cities from the most expensive to least expensive inpatient stays: 1. Denver, Colorado: $14,363 2. Dallas, Texas: $14,146 #2 St. Louis $9,285 #1 Denver $14,363 3. San Antonio, Texas: $14,072 #4 Kansas City $9,943 4. Fort Worth, Texas: $13,379 5. Phoenix, Arizona: $13,322 5. Atlanta, Georgia: $10,473 #5 Phoenix $13,322 #4 Fort Worth $13,379 4. Kansas City, Missouri: $9,943 3. Washington, DC: $9,834 #3 San Antonio $14,072 2. St. Louis, Missouri: $9,285 #3 Washington, DC $9,834 #1 Louisville $8,719 #5 Atlanta $10,473 #2 Dallas $14,146 1. Louisville, Kentucky: $8,719 Source: Cooper Z, Craig S, Gaynor M, Van Reenen J. “The price ain’t right? Hospital prices and health spending on the privately insured.” Health Care Pricing Project. December 2015. Good Night to Bad Luck A new report published in Nature suggests that cancer risk is heavily influenced by extrinsic or external factors – challenging the “bad luck” hypothesis that cancer development is largely due to chance. An analysis of epidemiologic data showed that: Only 10-30 % of cancers are related to intrinsic risk factors (including random mutations and rates of stem cell division) Doctors on the Defensive Providing more care than necessary may lower a doctor’s risk of being sued for malpractice, according to a report published in The BMJ. In the analysis of data from nearly 18.3 million hospital admissions and 4,300 subsequent malpractice claims, researchers found that so-called “defensive medicine” helped protect internists against lawsuits. Approximately 70-90 % of cancers are related to extrinsic risk factors (including environmental exposures and behaviors) For doctors who spent ≤$19,725 per hospital admission (the bottom spending group), the probability of experiencing an alleged malpractice incident was 1.5%. That risk dropped to 0.3% for doctors who spent ≥$39,379 per hospital admission (the top spending group). “These results are important for strategizing cancer prevention, research, and public health,” the authors concluded. Source: Jena AB, Schoemaker L, Bhattacharya J, Seabury SA. Physician spending and subsequent risk of malpractice claims: observational study. BMJ. 2015 November 4. [Epub ahead of print] Source: Wu S, Powers S, Zhu W, Hannun YA. Substantial contribution of extrinsic risk factors to cancer development. Nature. 2015 December 16. [Epub ahead of print] 26 ASH Clinical News February 2016