Shorter Door-to-Balloon Time in ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Saves Insurance Payments: A Single Hospital Experience in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
The relationship between quality of care and cost of medical services is a popular topic. In this study, we examined whether a reduced door-to-balloon (D2B) time led to cost savings, benefitted insurance payers, and improved patient outcomes.


METHODS
We retrospectively enrolled consecutive patients who presented with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and received primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between Feb. 1, 2007, and Jul. 31, 2009, at a tertiary hospital in Taiwan. The patient data were collected by chart review. We utilized claims data from the hospital financial system as the proxy for insurance payer costs. We only included the claims data, regardless of whether patients were inpatients or outpatients, associated with the first three cardiovascular related ICD-9 codes. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the relationships between the D2B time, in-hospital mortality and one-year cardiovascular readmission. We utilized a multivariable linear regression to test the relationships between the D2B time, hospitalization cost and one-year cardiovascular-related cost.


RESULTS
The D2B time did not influence the in-hospital mortality rate, but a D2B time greater than 90 min increased the probability of one-year cardiovascular readmission (p = 0.018). The D2B time did not increase the index hospitalization cost, but patients with a D2B time above 90 min had 14.6% higher one-year cardiovascular- related costs.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that the D2B time in patients with STEMI could impact the one-year cardiovascular readmission and one-year cardiovascular-related health cost. These results suggest that the pursuit of high-quality care not only leads to better outcomes, but also reduces costs.


BACKGROUND
Acute myocardial infarction; Cost; Door-to-balloon time; Insurance payer; Quality.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City; ; Institute of Health Policy and Management, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chieh-Min
CM
Fan
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch, Hsinchu, Taiwan;
Chao-Lun
CL
Lai
Cardiac Function Laboratory, Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada;
Ai-Hsien
AH
Li
Institute of Health Policy and Management, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Kuo-Piao
KP
Chung
Institute of Health Policy and Management, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Ming-Chin
MC
Yang