title: Comparison of hospital costs and length of stay for community internists, hospitalists, and academicians.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The model of inpatient medical management has evolved toward Hospitalists because of greater cost efficiency compared to traditional practice. The optimal model of inpatient care is not known.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare three models of inpatient Internal Medicine (traditional private practice Internists, private Hospitalist Internists, and Academic Internists with resident teams) for cost efficiency and quality at a community teaching hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Single-institution retrospective cohort study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Measurements were hospital cost, length of stay (LOS), mortality, and 30-day readmission rate adjusted for severity, demographics, and case mix. Academic Internist teams had 30% lower cost and 40% lower LOS compared to traditional private Internists and 24% lower cost and 30% lower LOS compared to private Hospitalists. Hospital mortality was equivalent for all groups. Academic teams had 2.3-2.6% more 30-day readmissions than the other groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Academic teams compare favorably to private Hospitalists and traditional Internists for hospital cost efficiency and quality.
authors: Internal Medicine Residency Program, Orlando Regional Healthcare, Orlando, FL 32806, USA. George.Everett@orhs.org
authors: George
authors: G
authors: Everett
authors: Nizam
authors: N
authors: Uddin
authors: Beth
authors: B
authors: Rudloff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D017721:Hospital Costs; D020445:Hospitalists / Q000191:economics; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000191:economics; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000191:economics*; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000191:economics; D012189:Retrospective Studies