Cancer Inpatient Expenditures : Hospice and General Residence

• Main Authors: Hsu Hao Wu, 吳栩豪
• Other Authors: K. J. Chen
• Format: Others
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/50279899714041335435

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 醫務管理學系 === 101 === Cancer is a leading cause of death in Taiwan, and its medical cost is still climbing. However, terminal cancer patients can choose active treatment or hospice care. The study decomposes cancer inpatient expenditures and analyzes the factors affecting the cancer inpatient expenditures in general and hospice wards. This study examines the information provided by the national health insurance research database from 2000 to 2010. Firth of all, the average inpatient expenditure is defined as sumproduct of age-specific expenditures and age composition of the patients. It is shown that age-specific expenditures is the primary factor contributing to the average inpatient expenditure. The age-specific expenditure is further defined as product of payment per day and hospitalization days. It is found that the duration of hospitalization is the principal factor affecting the age-specific expenditures in hospice ward, and payment per day is the major factor affecting expenditures in the general ward. This study also documents the difference between claimed and actual expenses in hospice and general wards. Stipulated by a fixed per diem payment, the claimed expenses appear much higher than the actual expenses in the hospice ward. On the other hand, without the fixed per diem payment, claimed expenses appear much lower than the actual expenses in the general ward.