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Patient Involvement and Cost |
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While increased patient participation has been shown to improve patient safety and satisfaction, there may be another increase-cost. Researchers at the University of Chicago surveyed over 21,000 patients admitted between 2003 and 2011 to determine their preference in leaving medical decisions up to their physicians. Those patients that indicated a desire to be more involved in their care had medical bills >$800 higher and a length of stay 0.26 days longer than the ones that just left it up to the health care team. The authors did not have a clear explanation for this and suggest further study, although one theory could be physicians are incentivized to decrease hospital length of stay, while patients may want to make sure they are receiving all the medication and testing they think they need before leaving the hospital.
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