DID YOU HEAR? If you aren't already, you may be in for weekend shifts in the Cath Lab—continue reading to find out WHY.
A recent analysis published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology found that keeping Cath Labs open on the weekends could lower costs.
The findings are based on high-risk patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes where early invasive intervention is associated with a significantly shorter length-of-stay. When the Cath Lab is closed or constrained on weekends, invasive intervention can be delayed, significantly increasing length-of-stay costs.
The results of the study found that early invasive intervention produced a savings of $2,938 per patient (with a 95 percent confidence interval, $5,236 to $640). Length-of-stay savings accounted for 96 percent of the cost-reduction.
Even with higher costs for weekend care, including physician fee premiums, savings significantly outweighed higher costs.
Sensitivity analysis of the data found that cost-saving persisted regardless of the percentage of NSTE-ACS cases addressed on weekends. (Even if the percentage of cases addressed on weekends were as disproportionately high as 50 percent, the savings would persist.)
WHY IT MATTERS, NOW
Reducing length-of-stay is a hot-button issue for hospital administrators—in our upcoming issue of CV Directions, Phalan Bolden and Latasha Ruffin report results from the Vascular Amputation Task Force's pilot program to reduce length-of-stay post amputation, just one example of the trend towards cutting length-of-stay across the board.
With this analysis in hand, administrators may jump on the opportunity to launch pilot programs extending Cath Lab hours to the weekend.
IS YOUR CATH LAB OPEN ON THE WEEKENDS? DO YOU GET HIGHER COMPENSATION FOR WEEKEND WORK? LEAVE A COMMENT, AND LET US KNOW!
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