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Biomedical subjects

E Muñoz

Publications and source records attributed to E Muñoz.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Immunomodulation of HLA class I and II expression on a human tumor derived cell line by 5-azacytidine, bacterial lipopolysaccharide, gamma interferon and a phorbol ester.

The modulation of histocompatibility antigens (HLA) expression by four different agents (gamma-IFN, LPS, PMA and 5-azaC) was investigated on a human tumor derived cell line that did not constitutively express HLA class I and class II molecules on its surface. Demethylating drug 5-azaC induced HLA class I but not HLA class II antigen expression. Gamma interferon and LPS induced HLA-DR and HLA-DP, but not HLA-DQ class II nor HLA class I antigens, while phorbol ester was unable to induce either class I or II molecule expression of the HLA system. These results suggest that HLA class I expression is constitutively inhibited by methylation of its coding genes. Treatment with 5-azaC leads to the HLA class I molecule expression, while HLA class II genes, DR and DP, seem to be under a different inhibitory mechanism as it was induced by LPS and gamma-interferon but not by 5-azaC. HLA-DQ class II antigens were not detected in response to any of the immunomodulators used.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1989

Hospital costs, resource characteristics, and the dynamics of death for hospitalized patients in cardiology Diagnosis-Related Groups.

A number of complex health policy questions face the nation regarding the Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) prospective hospital payment system. An ongoing debate ensues at the federal level of the utility of improving the DRG system, given the "budget neutrality" provision of the DRG law. We analyzed hospital resource consumption for 5809 cardiology inpatients by outcome (i.e., survival vs death). Hospital resource use was greater and financial risk under DRG pricing schemes was substantial for the 312 deaths compared with the 5497 survivors. Only cases in which the patient died within 1 week of admission to the hospital were profitable under DRGs. A long hospital length of stay for patients who eventually died was very unprofitable (those who died after more than a 60-day hospital length of stay generated a $24,688 loss per patient). Patients who died after emergency admission tended to have a similar hospital length of stay and to be similar financial risk under DRGs, compared with nonemergency patients who died. Those patients who had been referred from other clinical services and who died caused greater resource use and financial risk under DRGs, compared with patients who were not referred and who died. These data suggest significant inequities in the current DRG prospective payment system for patients in cardiology DRGs who die. Variables predictive of greater hospital resource use for cardiology patients who die include longer hospital lengths of stay and referral from another clinical service. Health policy leaders should attempt to improve the equity of cardiology DRGs regarding outcome in the future.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Hospital costs, resource characteristics, and the dynamics of death for patients with a primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure.

Although substantial changes have been recommended in the diagnosis related group (DRG) prospective hospital payment system related to very expensive care for some patients, no major change in payment for these patients has been implemented by the US Congress. Both the Health Care Financing Administration and the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission continue to study issues related to DRG stratification along the lines of severity of illness, outcome (lived or died), or complications and/or comorbidities. We analyzed hospital resource consumption for 599 patients with a primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure (CHF) by outcome (ie, survivors vs mortalities). The 68 mortalities had a much greater intensity of hospital resource utilization, and a substantial financial risk under DRG pricing schemes, compared to the 531 survivors. Only mortalities within one week of admission to the hospital were profitable under DRGs. A long hospital length of stay (LOS) for mortalities was very unprofitable (mortalities with a greater than 60-day LOS generated a +42,028 loss per patient). Emergency patients who died tended to have a shorter hospital LOS and less financial risk under DRGs, compared to patients who died who were not admitted as emergencies. These data suggest significant inequities in the DRG prospective payment system vis-a-vis CHF mortality. Variables predictive of greater hospital resource utilization for mortalities included longer hospital lengths of stay and urgent admission. Health policy leaders should be encouraged to further stratify DRG hospital resource consumption for appropriate variance in hospital costs.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Surgonomics as a health care financing policy for hospitalized surgical patients.

The Medicare system of prospective payment to hospitals based on diagnostic related groups (DRG) has been severely criticized at a number of levels. Many states are using DRG prospective "All Payor Systems" for reimbursement to hospitals with the federal DRG system as a model. In All Payor Systems, Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross and other commercial insurers pay by the DRG mode; the state of New York has been All Payor since 1 January 1988. This study simulated DRG All Payor methods on a large sample (N = 17,560) of surgical patients for a two year period, using both federal and New York DRG reimbursement methods currently in effect. Both Medicare and Medicaid patients had, on average, a longer length of stay in the hospital and higher total cost of hospitalization compared with patients from Blue Cross and other commercial payors. Medicare and Medicaid patients also had a greater severity of illness compared with patients from Blue Cross or other payors. All except commercial insurors (that is, Medicaid, Blue Cross and Medicare) had greater financial risk under the DRG All Payor scheme. Results from our study suggest that federal, state and private payors may not be adequately reimbursing health care providers for the care of the hospitalized surgical patient under the DRG prospective scheme of hospital payment. It appears that the financing policy for health care, especially at the federal and state level, could limit both the access and quality of care for surgical patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Race and diagnostic related group prospective hospital payment for medical patients.

The diagnostic related group (DRG) prospective hospital payment system has been on line for five years with no major changes implemented by the federal government. Data suggest that the DRG system may be inequitable to patients of lower socioeconomic status. We studied the consumption of hospital resources by race (ie, white vs black) for hospitalized medical patients using the DRG prospective payment system. All adult medical admissions (N = 30,097) were analyzed for a three-year period at a large academic medical center using the DRG "all payor" classification scheme in effect for New York State. We found that black patients (N = 3,373) had a significantly greater (P less than .0001) mean length of hospital stay and cost per patient (adjusted for DRG weight index) compared with white patients (N = 26,724). Black patients also exposed the medical center to greater (P less than .0001) financial risk compared with white patients, as measured by outliers and losses under DRGs. Black patients (P less than .0001) had a significantly higher proportion of emergency admissions to the hospital, a greater severity of illness (as measured by total International Classification of Diseases-9-Clinical Modification codes) (P less than .0001), and higher diagnostic costs (P less than .0001) for each episode of illness. These data suggest that at our medical center black medical patients may consume more hospital resources (adjusted for DRG case mix) compared with whites. It is important that methods to modify DRG prospective hospital payment for medical diseases be considered to provide more equitable DRG reimbursement for black Americans in the future.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1989

Diagnosis-related groups, costs, and outcome for patients in the intensive care unit.

Our purpose was to analyze hospital cost, resource utilization, and outcome by age for a large group of patients who required intensive care unit (ICU) services. Patients in the ICU (N = 6331) were stratified by age groups. Mean hospital cost per patient generally increased with age. Older patients (65 years of age and older) who were treated in the ICU had longer hospital lengths of stay, higher mortality rates, and a greater percentage of outlier patients, as compared with younger patients (under 65 years of age). Patients in the ICU would have produced a substantial loss for our medical center under a diagnosis-related group (DRG) all payer prospective payment scheme. Although higher mean costs were associated with older patients, every age group of patients in the ICU that we examined demonstrated a loss under DRGs. As a whole for the 3-year period, patients in the ICU would have generated more than +30 million in losses for our medical center. These losses were a result of a variety of factors, including a greater severity of illness and greater hospital resource utilization. The current DRG hospital payment system appears to be inequitable for the patient who receives treatment in the ICU during the hospital stay. As hospital operating margins continue to decline because of federal and state DRG hospital payment systems, additional pressures may be applied for physicians, nurses, and health care professionals to cut expenses for these patients. In this effort to watch the bottom line, physicians and nurses must not sacrifice the quality of or the access to care for patients who require ICU services.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1988

Financial risk and hospital cost for elderly patients. Age- and non-age-stratified medical diagnosis related groups.

The purpose of this study was to analyze hospital resource consumption for Medicare patients in non-age- and age-stratified medical diagnosis related groups (DRGs). This study of patients in 74 non-age-stratified DRGs (N = 3643) and 113 age-stratified DRGs (N = 2898) demonstrated that older medical patients (usually greater than or equal to 75 to 80 years of age) had (on average) higher total hospital costs, a longer hospital length of stay, more diagnoses per patient, a greater percentage of outliers, and a higher mortality compared with younger patients in these same DRGs. These findings raise the question of the equity of DRG payment vis-à-vis older Medicare patients in both non-age- and age-stratified medical DRGs. Financial disincentives to treat older medical patients may limit both their access and quality of care in the future.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Hospital costs, resource characteristics, and the dynamics of death for patients with hypertension.

A great deal of interest has begun to focus on outcome data for hospitals. We analyzed hospital resource consumption for 4289 patients with hypertension by outcome (ie, survivors vs mortalities). The 211 mortalities had a much greater intensity of hospital resource utilization and a substantial financial risk under diagnosis related group (DRG) pricing schemes compared with the 4078 survivors. Only mortalities within one week of admission to the hospital were profitable under DRGs. A long hospital length of stay (LOS) for mortalities was very unprofitable (mortalities with greater than 60-day LOS generated a $40,673 loss per patient). Patients admitted under emergency conditions who died tended to have a shorter hospital LOS and less financial risk under DRGs compared with those who were not emergency admissions and died. Mortalities referred from other clinical services tended to have greater resource utilization and financial risk under DRGs compared with nonreferred mortalities. These data suggest notable inequities in the DRG prospective payment system vis-à-vis patients who died with hypertension. They also demonstrated variables predictive of greater hospital resource utilization for patients who died with hypertension, including longer hospital LOS, nonemergency admission, and referral from another clinical service.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Surgonomics. Health care financing policy for hospitalized otolaryngology patients.

The Medicare diagnosis related group (DRG) prospective payment model is changing hospital payment. Currently many states are using DRG prospective "All Payor Systems" for hospital reimbursement. In All Payor Systems, Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross, and other commercial insurers pay by the DRG mode; New York State has been All Payor since Jan 1, 1988. This study simulated DRG All Payor methods on a large sample (N = 1074) of adult otolaryngology patients for a two-year period using both federal and New York DRG reimbursement now in effect. Both Medicare and Medicaid patients had (on average) a longer hospital stay and total hospital cost compared with patients from Blue Cross and other commercial payors. Medicare and Medicaid patients also had a greater severity of illness compared with patients from Blue Cross or other payors. All payors (ie, Medicaid, Blue Cross, and commercial insurers), except Medicare, generated financial risk under the DRG All Payor scheme. These data suggest that state and private payors may be underreimbursing for the care of the hospitalized otolaryngology patient using the DRG prospective hospital payment scheme. Health care financing policy described in this study may limit both the access and/or the quality of care for many otolaryngology patients in the future.

Diagnosis-Related Groups↗
PubMed1988

Diagnosis related groups and the transfer of general surgical patients between hospitals.

This study tested the hypothesis that financial risk would be generated by surgical patients transferred to our hospital from other acute care hospitals under diagnosis related group (DRG) reimbursement. Hospital costs by DRG (exclusive of physician fees) were analyzed for all adult general surgical patients transferred to our medical center from another acute care hospital between Jan 1, 1985, and Dec 31, 1986. Transferred patients (n = 97) had significantly higher resource utilization (ie, hospital costs) than nontransferred patients (n = 2976) within the same surgical DRGs as follows: total mean cost per patient, $17,348 vs $9,460; mean length of stay 21.4 days vs 10.9 days; mean laboratory cost per patient, $1849 vs $975; and mean radiologic cost per patient, $794 vs $397. Transferred patients generated a yearly deficit of $238,717 ($4922 loss per patient) for the hospital, whereas other patients within the same DRGs generated a profit of $727,632 ($489 profit per patient). These data support the hypothesis that DRG reimbursement will provide a financial disincentive for teaching hospitals to accept surgical transfer patients from other acute care hospitals, thus potentially decreasing the access of care for the complexly ill surgical patient.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1988

Identification and characterization of a human cell line with dendritic cell features.

CORP-4 is a cell line obtained in our laboratory from an explanted human bladder carcinoma. This cell line shows certain dendritic cell features such as adherence to the culture plate surface, a doubling time of 24 h and an enzymatic profile typical of cells involved in antigen presentation (non-specific esterases, lysozyme and alpha-1-antitrypsin). Its phenotypic analysis revealed CD 15 and Fc receptor expression, S-100 surface protein and the presence of positive reactivity to different lectins such as Concanavalin A (Con A) and Peanut agglutinin (PNA). CORP-4 was found to be a non-phagocytic cell line after it was assayed with latex, and FcR- and C3bR-mediated phagocytosis. Furthermore, CORP-4 produced interleukin-1 (IL-1) as determined by thymocyte proliferation assays and also fixes immune complexes in a non-complement dependent fashion. HLA class I and class II antigens were inducible by both 5 azacytidine and gamma interferon.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed1988

Financial risk, hospital cost, and complications and comorbidities in medical non-complications and comorbidity-stratified diagnosis-related groups.

A number of methods are being studied to modify and improve the accuracy of the Medicare Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) hospital classification system. This study analyzed resource consumption for 2,431 medical Medicare patients in the 53 non-complicating condition-stratified (i.e., non-complication and comorbidity) medical DRGs. Resource consumption per patient increased as the number of complications and comorbidities per patient per DRG increased, as measured by total hospital cost, hospital length of stay, the number of diagnoses and procedures per patient, the percent outliers, and mortality. Patients with more than four complications and comorbidities generated significant financial risk ($5,667 loss per patient) under DRG reimbursement. This study raises the question of the equity of DRG reimbursement for the medical non-complication and comorbidity-stratified DRGs. A method for DRG adjustment based on complications and comorbidities should be implemented by Congress to assure equitable payment for patients in these medical DRGs.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1988

The identifier concept: clinical parameters to stratify hospital patient costs within gynecology diagnosis-related groups.

The purpose of this study was to analyze whether clinical variables could stratify hospital costs within gynecology diagnosis-related groups. We analyzed 3171 gynecologic admissions to a large teaching hospital and found that the parameters of nonemergency and intensive care unit admission and blood or plasma product utilization could stratify hospital costs and outcome within a gynecology diagnosis-related group. Patients with the variables had higher total hospital costs, a longer hospital length of stay, more procedures per patient, a greater proportion of outliers, and a higher mortality than patients without the variables. This study demonstrates that these four clinical variables could be used to focus cost-containment efforts on gynecologic patients incurring higher costs in the coming era of limited resources.

Blood Transfusion↗
PubMed1988

Preoperative and postoperative medical evaluation of surgical patients.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the cost-benefit of routine preoperative and postoperative medical evaluation of surgical patients. We analyzed the records of 70 patients who underwent selected common general and vascular surgical procedures according to their surgical risk, and assessed the potential change in outcome from medical evaluation. Our findings suggest that for low-risk surgical patients undergoing these procedures, medical evaluation is unlikely to affect outcome and, thus, may be unnecessary. There appears to be some benefit, however, for medium-risk surgical patients. Although we do not suggest the abolishment of all preoperative and postoperative medical evaluations, we do recommend the much more selective use of this valuable resource. Our data suggest that significant improvement in efficiency for many hospitals may be possible by omitting routine preoperative and postoperative medical evaluation for certain patients and by obtaining medical evaluation only in selected medium and higher risk surgical patients (ASA class 3 and above).

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Access and quality of care for urology patients under diagnostic related group reimbursement.

The Diagnostic Related Group payment mechanism is rapidly changing economic incentives for hospitals. We studied resource consumption and age for a large group of urology patients under Diagnostic Related Group reimbursement. Total hospital costs (exclusive of Diagnostic Related Group reimbursement. Total hospital costs (exclusive of physician fees) for the 1,281 urology patients studied were $8,895,264. Older urological patients consumed a disproportionately larger share of hospital resources. Mean hospital cost per patient, mean number of procedures, hospital length of stay and mortality generally increased with age. Under Diagnostic Related Group reimbursement, financial risk increased with age; patients 75 years and older generated significant financial risk to the hospital. Older patients often had a more intense resource use as measured by emergency or surgical intensive care unit admission, and blood and plasma protein requirements. These findings suggest that the current Diagnostic Related Group payment scheme may provide significant financial disincentives to hospitals vis-à-vis older urology patients and, thus, it could limit the access and quality of care for the older urology patient in the future.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

A study of change in clinical service for general surgical patients.

The department of surgery at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York City conducted a study examining resource consumption and quality of care for patients referred to surgery from other hospital services, or "referred patients." Referred patients were compared with "nonreferred" surgery patients using several indicators of resource consumption. A quality assessment was also performed on a random sample from both groups using peer review organization guidelines. The study found that referred patients consumed more resources and may have received poorer quality care than nonreferred patients. Previous studies suggest that some resource utilization by referred patients may be avoidable. Thus, referral to the department of surgery may serve as an indicator for identifying patients in need of ongoing quality and/or utilization monitoring.

Health Resources↗
PubMed1988

Diagnosis related groups, resource utilization, age, and outcome for hospitalized nephrology patients.

Economic incentives are rapidly changing for hospitals under the prospective Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) hospital reimbursement scheme. The purpose of this project was to study resource use, age, and outcome for nephrology admissions to a large academic medical center. Total hospital costs for the 784 nephrology admissions (January 1, 1985 to December 31, 1986) were $5,037,460. Mean hospital cost per patient and mortality generally increased with age. DRG payment for patients in the 13 nephrology DRGs analyzed would have produced an aggregate loss of $483,584; however, all age categories of patients 55 years of age and over generated significant losses (the highest was for patients 85 years and above, $5,343 loss per patient). Diabetic nephrology patients generated greater resource consumption compared with nondiabetic nephrology patients, as well as patients in medical and surgical DRGs with chronic renal failure compared with patients in these same DRGs without chronic renal failure. Older nephrology patients also demonstrated higher emergency and ICU admission and blood requirements than younger patients. This study suggests that the current DRG reimbursement scheme may be inequitable vis a vis older nephrology patients, as well as those with diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure. Financial disincentives by DRGs may affect both the access and quality of care for groups of nephrology patients in the future.

Adolescent↗