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March 14th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda TUESDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) — Higher spending hospitals
in Canada’s universal care health system have lower rates of patient
deaths and readmissions, and provide a better quality of care for severely
ill patients, according to a new study.
Previous studies that examined the link between hospital spending and
quality of care in the United States and other countries produced
conflicting results, and the effects of higher spending by hospitals in a
universal health care system were unknown, according to Therese Stukel, of
the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, and
colleagues.
For the new study, Stukel’s team examined data on patients older than
age 18 who were admitted to hospitals in the province of Ontario between
1998 and 2008 for treatment of heart attack, congestive heart failure, hip
fracture or colon cancer.
In the highest- and lowest-spending hospitals, respectively, the 30-day
death rate among patients was 12.7 percent vs. 12.8 percent for heart
attack, 10.2 percent vs. 12.4 percent for congestive heart failure, 7.7
percent vs. 9.7 percent for hip fracture, and 3.3 percent vs. 3.9 percent
for colon cancer.
In addition, the 30-day rate for major cardiac events was 17.4 percent
vs. 18.7 percent for patients with heart attack and 15 percent vs. 17.6
percent for those with congestive heart failure at the highest- and
lowest-spending hospitals, respectively.
The 30-day readmission rate was 23.1 percent vs. 25.8 percent for
patients with hip fracture and 10.3 percent vs. 13.1 percent for those
with colon cancer, the investigators found.
Results for death rates, readmissions and major cardiac events after
one year were similar, according to the research in the March 14 issue of
the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study authors reported that certain factors were noted among
higher-spending hospitals, including that they tended to be higher-volume
teaching or community hospitals; located in cities; affiliated with
regional cancer centers; and able to provide specialized services. In
addition, these facilities were more likely to have higher nursing staff
ratios, and admitted patients had longer stays, were less likely to be
placed in intensive care and had more specialist visits.
Compared to Ontario, the United States has a three to four times higher
supply of specialized medical technology, such as CT and MRI scanners, per
person, but a similar supply of acute care beds and nurses, the
researchers noted in a journal news release.
“Ontario’s 2001 population rates of cardiac testing and
revascularization lagged behind corresponding 1992 U.S. rates and
paralleled the supply of cardiologists and catheterization facilities,”
the study authors noted in the release.
“It is therefore possible that Canadian hospitals, with fewer
specialized resources, selective access to medical technology, and global
budgets, are using these resources more efficiently, especially during the
inpatient episode for care-sensitive conditions,” the authors said.
“Canada’s health care expenditures per capita are about 57 percent of
those in the United States. At this spending level, there might still be a
positive association between spending and outcomes.”
More information
The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality offers a guide to health care quality.
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