Abstract
An ongoing study of medical care and associated costs relative to spinal cord injury is being conducted at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, one of 11 federally funded Model Regional Spinal Cord Injury Centres. It was hypothesised such costs would be lower among patients admitted into an organised continuum of care (system) soon after injury than among patients whose entry into the organised system of care was delayed (non-system).
A comprehensive economic data set has been acquired on 142 of 233 (61 per cent) patients admitted since implementation of the project.
Analysis of these data reveals: (1) system patients require, on average, expenditures of almost $5,000 less than their non-system counterparts; (2) there is little difference in medical or associated costs and length of hospitalisation between tetraplegics and paraplegics; (3) spinal cord injuries secondary to motor vehicle accidents have higher associated costs and longer lengths of stay than do those injuries resulting from other causes including acts of violence.
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Charles, E, Van Matre, J & Miller, J (1974). Spinal-cord injury—a cost benefit analysis of alternative treatment modals. Paraplegia, 12, 222.
Hamilton, B, Rath, G, Meger, P & Rosen, J (1976). A basic evaluation framework for spinal cord injury care systems. Paraplegia, 14, 87.
Monthly Labor Review (1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973). Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, U.S.
Rice, Dorothy P & Cooper, Barbara S (1976). Economic cost of illness revisited. Social Security Bulletin, February, 1976, 39(2), 21–36.
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The authors wish to acknowledge the Rehabilitation Services Administrations for partial support of this research (ORD-RD-P-55 8624-03), the hospitals, physicians and other providers in Alabama, who supplied the data, and especially Mrs Bobbie Williams for her tireless efforts in collecting the data.
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Charles, E., Fine, P., Stover, S. et al. The costs of spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 15, 302–310 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1977.46
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1977.46
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