Association between compliance with quality indicators and hospitalisation expenses in patients with heart failure: a retrospective study using quantile regression model in China

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between compliance with quality indicators and hospitalisation expenses in patients with heart failure. DESIGN: Generalised linear model and quantile regression model were used to examine the association between compliance with five quality indicators and hospitalisation expenses. SETTING: Grade A hospital in Fujian Province, China. PARTICIPANTS: Data on 2568 heart failure admissions between 2010 and 2015 were analysed. RESULTS: The median (IQR) of hospitalisation expenses of 2568 patients was ¥10.9 (¥6.9–¥31.6) thousand. The rates of compliance with five quality indicators were 90.3% for evaluation of left ventricular function, 43.8% for diuretics, 62.0% for ACE inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), 67.4% for beta-blockers, and 58.9% for aldosterone receptor antagonists. After adjustment for gender, age, residence, method of payment, number of diseases before admission, number of diseases at admission, number of emergency treatments during hospital stay and length of stay, patients who received evaluation for left ventricular function, diuretics, or ACEI or ARB had lower hospitalisation expenses, and patients who received beta-blockers had higher hospitalisation expenses, compared with their counterparts in generalised linear models. Differences in hospitalisation expenses between compliance and non-compliance with quality indicators became larger across quantile levels of hospitalisation expenses, and were found to be statistically significant when quantile level exceeded 0.80 (¥39.7 thousand) in quantile regression models. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of care for patients with heart failure was below the target level. There was a negative relationship between compliance with quality indicators and hospitalisation expenses at the extreme quantile of expenses. More attention should be given to patients who may experience extreme expenses, and effective measures should be taken to improve the quality of care they receive.