title: Does Using Complementary Health Insurance Affect Hospital Length of Stay? Evidence from Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Length of stay (LOS) is used as an indicator to show the efficacy of hospitals. An increase in hospitalized days is not cost effective and decreases the efficacy of hospitals. Using insurance has some side effects. One of these side effects is increasing the LOS. In this study we attempt to discover the effects of complementary health insurance (CHI) on LOS in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 260 patients were surveyed. By using Poisson regression, the effects of using complementary health insurance on LOS were examined. The effects of confounders were also controlled in the model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of this study demonstrated that the relationship between use of CHI and LOS is direct. In addition, an increase in age and income also increases the LOS. The average LOS was 4.13 days, while it was 5.31 for CHI users, and 3.81 for CHI nonusers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Government budget is restricted and ACS treatments are costly. Decreasing LOS in ACS patients can help to spend the budget more effectively.
authors.affiliation: a School of Public Health , Zabol University of Medical Sciences , Zabol , Iran.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arefnezhad
authors.affiliation: b Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health , Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran , Iran.|c Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health , Kerman University of Medical Sciences , Kerman , Iran.
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yazdi Feyzabadi
authors.affiliation: b Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health , Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran , Iran.
authors.forename: Enayatollah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Homaie Rad
authors.affiliation: a School of Public Health , Zabol University of Medical Sciences , Zabol , Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sepehri
authors.affiliation: a School of Public Health , Zabol University of Medical Sciences , Zabol , Iran.
authors.forename: Saeideh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pourmand
authors.affiliation: a School of Public Health , Zabol University of Medical Sciences , Zabol , Iran.
authors.forename: Mohadeseh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rava
mesh_terms: D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007492:Iran; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Hospital length of stay; Iran; complementary health insurance; poisson regression