title: Hospital quality and intensity of spending: is there an association?
abstract: Numerous studies in the United States have examined the association between quality and spending at the regional level. In this paper we evaluate this relationship at the level of individual hospitals, which are a more natural unit of analysis for reporting on and improving accountability. For all of the quality indicators studied, the association with spending is either nil or negative. The absence of positive correlations suggests that some institutions achieve exemplary performance on quality measures in settings that feature lower intensity of care. This finding highlights the need for reporting information on both quality and spending.
authors.affiliation: Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yasaitis
authors.forename: Elliott S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Jonathan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.forename: Amitabh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chandra
mesh_terms: D004469:Economics, Hospital; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D014481:United States