Association of Pediatric Inpatient Socioeconomic Status With Hospital Efficiency and Financial Balance

IMPORTANCE: In health care systems in which hospital reimbursement is based on a national mean length of stay (LOS), disadvantaged patients with an increased LOS may be a source of inefficiency. This implication has been reported in adult patients, but pediatric data have been scarce. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of patient socioeconomic status with hospital efficiency and financial balance in pediatrics. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study obtained data from the French national hospital discharge database covering a 3-year period, from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2014. Statistical analyses were performed between June 2016 and December 2018. All inpatient stays in hospital pediatric wards in mainland France by children older than 28 days or younger than 18 years (n = 4 121 187) were included. Admissions with coding errors or missing values for social disadvantage and/or cost calculations were excluded. EXPOSURE: Social disadvantage was estimated with an ecological indicator, the FDep, available at the patient’s postcode of residence and divided into national quintiles. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Efficiency was assessed through the variations in patient LOS compared with different national mean LOS (for pediatric patients, pediatric patients with a similar condition, and pediatric patients with a similar condition and severity level). Hospital financial balance was assessed at the admission level through the ratio of production costs to revenues and at the hospital level through the difference between aggregated revenues and production costs. Multivariate regression models examined the association between these indicators and socioeconomic status. RESULTS: A total of 4 121 187 admissions were included (2 336 540 [56.7%] male; mean [SD] age, 7.4 [5.8] years). In all, 1 561 219 patients (37.9%) were in the 2 most disadvantaged quintiles. Patient LOS was shorter than the national mean LOS (mean [SD], 1.73 [4.21] days) for patients in the least disadvantaged quintile and longer for those in the more disadvantaged quintile (mean [SD], 1.67 [4.33] days vs 1.82 [4.14] days). This difference was higher for diagnosis related groups that included both adult and pediatric patients (mean [SD], 1.46 [4.22] days vs 1.61 [4.13] days) compared with those dedicated to pediatric patients (2.22 [4.13] days vs 2.12 [4.53] days). Patients in the most disadvantaged quintile were associated with a 3.2% increase in LOS (odds ratio, 1.0322; 95% CI, 1.0302-1.0341) compared with the national mean LOS. Social disadvantage was also associated with a significant increase in financial deficit for hospitals with 20% to 60% of patients in the 2 most disadvantaged quintiles (estimate: −€146 389; 95% CI, −€279 566 to −€13 213). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Patient socioeconomic status appears to be statistically significantly associated with an increase in LOS and cost in French hospitals with pediatric departments. This finding suggests that initiating reform in hospital payment methods may improve resource allocation efficiency and equity in access to pediatric care.