{"title":"Impact of DRG Reform Policies on Hospitalization Costs of Stroke Patients in Western China: Wisdom from Traditional Chinese Medicine.","authors":"Jiayi Wang, Mengen Chen, Jingyu Yang","doi":"10.2147/RMHP.S525667","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Stroke presents a significant economic burden worldwide, with the impact being especially pronounced in developing countries. China is currently implementing Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) reforms, attempting to use more traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) modalities to alleviate the economic burden on stroke patients.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This retrospective study extracted the medical records of stroke inpatients at Qingyang City Hospital of TCM from 2017 to 2022 from China's Gansu National Health Big Data Platform. A single-group interrupted time series (ITS) design was employed to assess the impact of DRG reform on patients' hospitalization costs and length of stay (LOS). Additionally, a two-group ITS was utilized to evaluate treatment costs and medicine costs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The single-group ITS analysis indicated that the average LOS decreased by 0.06 days per month following the reform (P < 0.05), while the average hospitalization cost declined by 48.92 yuan per month (P < 0.05). The two-group ITS results revealed a significant reduction in the average monthly cost of Western medicine by 22.67 yuan post-reform (P < 0.05), whereas the average monthly cost of Chinese medicine increased by 2.93 yuan, though this change was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Additionally, the average monthly cost of Western medical treatment decreased by 11.24 yuan (P < 0.05). Acupuncture and massage treatment costs exhibited an initial sharp increase followed by a downward trend, with an average monthly decrease of 9.53 yuan (P < 0.05).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>DRG reduced hospitalization costs and shortened the LOS of stroke patients, which may be related to the increased use of TCM in stroke treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":56009,"journal":{"name":"Risk Management and Healthcare Policy","volume":"18 ","pages":"2401-2411"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12263817/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Risk Management and Healthcare Policy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S525667","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Stroke presents a significant economic burden worldwide, with the impact being especially pronounced in developing countries. China is currently implementing Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) reforms, attempting to use more traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) modalities to alleviate the economic burden on stroke patients.
Methods: This retrospective study extracted the medical records of stroke inpatients at Qingyang City Hospital of TCM from 2017 to 2022 from China's Gansu National Health Big Data Platform. A single-group interrupted time series (ITS) design was employed to assess the impact of DRG reform on patients' hospitalization costs and length of stay (LOS). Additionally, a two-group ITS was utilized to evaluate treatment costs and medicine costs.
Results: The single-group ITS analysis indicated that the average LOS decreased by 0.06 days per month following the reform (P < 0.05), while the average hospitalization cost declined by 48.92 yuan per month (P < 0.05). The two-group ITS results revealed a significant reduction in the average monthly cost of Western medicine by 22.67 yuan post-reform (P < 0.05), whereas the average monthly cost of Chinese medicine increased by 2.93 yuan, though this change was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Additionally, the average monthly cost of Western medical treatment decreased by 11.24 yuan (P < 0.05). Acupuncture and massage treatment costs exhibited an initial sharp increase followed by a downward trend, with an average monthly decrease of 9.53 yuan (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: DRG reduced hospitalization costs and shortened the LOS of stroke patients, which may be related to the increased use of TCM in stroke treatment.
期刊介绍：
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal focusing on all aspects of public health, policy and preventative measures to promote good health and improve morbidity and mortality in the population. Specific topics covered in the journal include:
Public and community health
Policy and law
Preventative and predictive healthcare
Risk and hazard management
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Lifestyle and diet modification
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Health and safety and occupational health
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Advertising and promotion of health issues
Health economic evaluations and resource management
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy focuses on human interventional and observational research. The journal welcomes submitted papers covering original research, clinical and epidemiological studies, reviews and evaluations, guidelines, expert opinion and commentary, and extended reports. Case reports will only be considered if they make a valuable and original contribution to the literature. The journal does not accept study protocols, animal-based or cell line-based studies.
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