Increased registration of hypertension and cancer diagnoses after the introduction of a new reimbursement system

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of primary health care Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 222 - 228
• Main Authors: Hjerpe, Per, Boström, Kristina Bengtsson, Lindblad, Ulf, Merlo, Juan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Informa Healthcare 01.12.2012; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; brief conceptual tutorial; Cancer; Chronic illnesses; Clinical medicine; Coding; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diagnosis; Doctors; Electronic health records; Electronic Health Records - utilization; Fee-for-Service Plans; Female; general practice; General Practice - organization & administration; health; Health care; Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy; Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy; Health Sciences; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi; Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi; Hälsovetenskap; ICD codes; imary care; incentive; International Classification of Diseases - trends; Logistic Models; Male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical diagnosis; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Motivation; Multilevel Analysis; Neoplasms - diagnosis; Original; Physicians; Primary care; primary health; Primary Health Care; reimbursement; social epidemiology; Sweden; swedish primary-care; Sweden
• ISSN: 0281-3432; 1502-7724; 1502-7724
• DOI: 10.3109/02813432.2012.735552

Abstract Objective. To investigate the impact on ICD coding behaviour of a new case-mix reimbursement system based on coded patient diagnoses. The main hypothesis was that after the introduction of the new system the coding of chronic diseases like hypertension and cancer would increase and the variance in propensity for coding would decrease on both physician and health care centre (HCC) levels. Design. Cross-sectional multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed in periods covering the time before and after the introduction of the new reimbursement system. Setting. Skaraborg primary care, Sweden. Subjects. All patients (n = 76 546 to 79 826) 50 years of age and older visiting 468 to 627 physicians at the 22 public HCCs in five consecutive time periods of one year each. Main outcome measures. Registered codes for hypertension and cancer diseases in Skaraborg primary care database (SPCD). Results. After the introduction of the new reimbursement system the adjusted prevalence of hypertension and cancer in SPCD increased from 17.4% to 32.2% and from 0.79% to 2.32%, respectively, probably partly due to an increased diagnosis coding of indirect patient contacts. The total variance in the propensity for coding declined simultaneously at the physician level for both diagnosis groups. Conclusions. Changes in the healthcare reimbursement system may directly influence the contents of a research database that retrieves data from clinical practice. This should be taken into account when using such a database for research purposes, and the data should be validated for each diagnosis.