Healthcare Costs and Utilization among Patients Hospitalized for Malignant Pleural Effusion.

BACKGROUND: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) poses a considerable healthcare burden, but little is known about trends in directly attributable hospital utilization. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to study national trends in healthcare utilization and outcomes among hospitalized MPE patients. METHODS: We analyzed adult hospitalizations attributable to MPE using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project - National Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS) databases from 2004, 2009, and 2014. Cases were included if MPE was coded as the principal admission diagnosis or if unspecified pleural effusion was coded as the principal admission diagnosis in the setting of metastatic cancer. Annual hospitalizations were estimated for the entire US hospital population using discharge weights. Length of stay (LOS), hospital charges, and hospital mortality were also estimated. RESULTS: We analyzed 92,034 hospital discharges spanning a decade (2004-2014). Yearly hospitalizations steadily decreased from 38,865 to 23,965 during this time frame, the mean LOS decreased from 7.7 to 6.3 days, and the adjusted hospital mortality decreased from 7.9 to 4.5% (p = 0.00 for all trend analyses). The number of pleurodesis procedures also decreased over time (p = 0.00). The mean inflation-adjusted charge per hospitalization rose from USD 41,252 to USD 56,951, but fewer hospitalizations drove the total annual charges down from USD 1.51 billion to USD 1.37 billion (p = 0.00 for both analyses). CONCLUSIONS: The burden of hospital-based resource utilization associated with MPE has decreased over time, with a reduction in attributable hospitalizations by one third in the span of 1 decade. Correspondingly, the number of inpatient pleurodesis procedures has decreased during this time frame.

Disparities over Time in Volume, Day of the Week, and Patient Complexity between Paracentesis and Thoracentesis Procedures Performed by Radiologists versus Those Performed by Nonradiologists.

PURPOSE: To compare the disparities between the paracenteses and thoracenteses performed by radiologists with those performed by nonradiologists over time. Variables included the volume of procedures, the days of the week, and the complexity of the patient's condition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using carrier claims files for a 5% national sample of Medicare beneficiaries from 2004 to 2016, paracentesis and thoracentesis examinations were retrospectively classified by physician specialty (radiologist vs nonradiologist), day of the week (weekday vs weekend), and the complexity of the patient's condition (using Charlson comorbidity index scores). The Pearson chi-square and independent samples t-test were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Between 2004 and 2016, the proportion of all paracentesis and thoracentesis procedures performed by radiologists increased from 70% to 80% and from 47% to 66%, respectively. Although radiologists increasingly performed more of both services on both weekends and weekdays, the share performed by radiologists was lower on weekends. For most of the first 9 years across the study period, radiologists performed paracentesis in patients with more complex conditions than those treated by nonradiologists, but the complexity of patients' conditions was similar during recent years. For thoracentesis, the complexity of patients' conditions was similar for both specialty groups across the study period. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of paracentesis and thoracentesis procedures performed in Medicare beneficiaries by radiologists continues to increase, with radiologists increasingly performing most of both services on weekends. Nonetheless, radiologists perform disproportionately more on weekdays than on weekends. Presently, radiologists and nonradiologists perform paracentesis and thoracentesis procedures in patients with similarly complex conditions. These interspecialty differences in timing and complexity of the patient's condition differ from those recently described for several diagnostic imaging services, reflecting the unique clinical and referral patterns for invasive versus diagnostic imaging services.