Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Are general practitioner hospitals cost-saving? Evidence from a rural area of Norway

Are general practitioner hospitals cost-saving? Evidence from a rural area of Norway Objective : We aimed to determine whether general practitioner GP hospitals, compared with alternative modes of health care, are cost-saving. Method : Based on a study of admissions (n=415) to fifteen GP hospitals in the Finnmark county of Norway during 8 weeks in 1992, a full 1-year patient through put in GP hospitals was estimated. The alternative modes of care (general hospital, nursing home or home care) were based on assessments by the GPs handling the individual patients. The funds transferred to finance GP hospitals were taken as the cost of GP hospitals, while the cost of alternative care was based on municipality and hospital accounts, and standard charges for patient transport. Results : The estimated total annual operating cost of GP hospitals was 32.2 million NOK (10 NOK=£1) while the cost of alternative care was in total 35.9 million NOK. Sensitivity analyses, under a range of assumptions, indicate that GP care in hospitals incurs the lowest costs to society. Conclusion : GP hospitals are likely to provide health care at lower costs than alternative modes. Keywords : Costs of care, general hospital, general practitioner hospital, primary care. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Family Practice Oxford University Press

Are general practitioner hospitals cost-saving? Evidence from a rural area of Norway

Family Practice , Volume 14 (5) – Oct 1, 1997

Loading next page...
 
/lp/oxford-university-press/are-general-practitioner-hospitals-cost-saving-evidence-from-a-rural-qUDAL2NAhG

References (0)

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
Copyright 1997
ISSN
0263-2136
eISSN
1460-2229
DOI
10.1093/fampra/14.5.397
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Objective : We aimed to determine whether general practitioner GP hospitals, compared with alternative modes of health care, are cost-saving. Method : Based on a study of admissions (n=415) to fifteen GP hospitals in the Finnmark county of Norway during 8 weeks in 1992, a full 1-year patient through put in GP hospitals was estimated. The alternative modes of care (general hospital, nursing home or home care) were based on assessments by the GPs handling the individual patients. The funds transferred to finance GP hospitals were taken as the cost of GP hospitals, while the cost of alternative care was based on municipality and hospital accounts, and standard charges for patient transport. Results : The estimated total annual operating cost of GP hospitals was 32.2 million NOK (10 NOK=£1) while the cost of alternative care was in total 35.9 million NOK. Sensitivity analyses, under a range of assumptions, indicate that GP care in hospitals incurs the lowest costs to society. Conclusion : GP hospitals are likely to provide health care at lower costs than alternative modes. Keywords : Costs of care, general hospital, general practitioner hospital, primary care.

Journal

Family PracticeOxford University Press

Published: Oct 1, 1997

There are no references for this article.