Hospitalization Costs and Length of Stay in Chinese Naval Hospitals Between 2008 and 2016 Based on Influencing Factors: A Longitudinal Comparison

Introduction A retrospective review conducted in three hospitals of Guangdong and Hainan, China. To analyze the variation tendency of mean hospitalization costs and length of stay (LOS) in naval hospitals over nine years, paying special attention to the factors affecting hospitalization costs and LOS to provide a reference base for health resource allocation in naval hospitals. Materials and Methods A total of 21,375 cases of military patients who were hospitalized and treated in three naval hospitals between January 2008 to December 2016 were extracted from the military health system. There were 16,278 complete and effective cases during those nine years. The situation, trends, and factors influencing hospitalization costs and LOS were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and multiple linear regressions. Results The following factors showed statistically significant differences in hospitalization costs: special care, primary care, year, military rank, critical illness, allergies, and condition (p < 0.0001); and number of hospitalizations, gender, and age (p < 0.01). The following factors showed statistically significant differences in hospital LOS: year, number of hospitalizations, outcomes, military rank, special care, severity of illness, and condition (p < 0.0001); allergy (p < 0.01); and service and gender (p < 0.05). LOS between 2008-2016 showed a decreasing tendency, while hospitalization costs showed an increasing trend. There were 6 factors that affected Abstract (or Structured Summary) both the cost of hospitalization and LOS: special care, year, military rank, condition, allergy, and gender. Conclusions The results suggest that improving efficiency of military hospital require strengthening hierarchical referrals and controlling hospital LOS. Shortening LOS, optimizing clinical pathways, and reasonably controlling the costs associated with medicines and surgery can help reduce hospitalization costs for military patients. Controlling the growth of hospitalization costs can help avoid the physical and psychological burden of medical over-treatment on patients and may also optimize the allocation of military health resources.