title: Skill-specific staffing intensity and the cost of hospital care.
abstract: Hospital managers have changed their staffing strategies to reduce the cost of care. Such hospitals may be both understaffed and underskilled in terms of some caregivers. Understaffing and underskilling may have indirect effects that offset the benefits of payroll cost reductions. This article indicates that in 1991 some California hospitals were understaffed in terms of specific bedside caregivers and had higher costs than did hospitals employing more of those caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical and Diagnostic Care, University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Health Related Professions, USA.
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Dowd
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassan
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D003363:Cost Control / Q000639:trends; D017046:Cost Savings / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000639:trends; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D013038:Specialization / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States