The Effect of Type of Hospital and Health Insurance on Hospital Length of Stay in Irbid, North Jordan

• Published in: Health policy and planning Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 166 - 172
• Main Authors: Mawajdeh, Salah, Hayajneh, Yaseen, Al-Qutob, Raeda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.06.1997; OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS; Oxford University Press, in association with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Child; Cost Control; Factors; Female; Health administration; Health insurance; Health planning; Health policy; Hospital treatment; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Hospitals, Private - economics; Hospitals, Private - statistics & numerical data; Hospitals, Public - economics; Hospitals, Public - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Insurance, Hospitalization - classification; Irbid; Jordan; Length of stay; Length of Stay - economics; Male; Patient Discharge - economics; Patients; Research reports; Retrospective Studies
• ISSN: 0268-1080; 1460-2237
• DOI: 10.1093/heapol/12.2.166

The study aimed at examining the effects of type of hospital and health insurance status on hospital length of stay for three identified medical and surgical conditions. Medical records of 520 patients for the year 1991 were reviewed in one public and one private hospital. Comparison of hospital length of stay for the private (n = 185) versus public sector patients (n = 335) was carried out. The effect of presence of health insurance (n = 189) and the lack of it (n = 325) was also studied. It was found that the average length of stay in the public hospital was significantly longer than the private one (3.3 versus 2.7 days). In addition, insured patients had significantly longer hospital length of stay (3.3 versus 3.0 days). The results of the multi-variate analysis showed that after socioeconomic factors and clinical conditions of patients were adjusted for, the influence of hospital type and health insurance on hospital length of stay was about one day. The paper also discusses the need to base hospital cost-containment strategies on studies of hospital behaviour and performance.