University of Basel: Private Patients Receive Treatment for Urinary Tract Conditions Better Than Those With Health Insurance.

BASEL, Switzerland, Jan. 21 (TNSjou) — The University of Basel issued the following news release:

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Internal patients Switzerland with additional private health insurance are said to be more likely to have heart tests than those with only regular health insurance. This has been shown in a study by researchers from the University of Basel and the Aarau Cantonal Hospital.

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Switzerland has one of the most expensive health care systems in the world. Thanks to mandatory health insurance, everyone in there Switzerland access to excellent medical care. The purchase of voluntary additional insurance allows patients to receive additional benefits during treatment at the hospital, such as a private room and free choice of doctor. c.

While health insurers pay for treatment for regular insurance holders with a specific fee per case, hospitals can charge people with additional insurance fees, which benefits the staff of the doctor. It has long been suspected that there may be financial incentives to offer unnecessary treatments to additional insurers.

Data analysis

A group of researchers from the University of Basel and the Aarau Cantonal Hospital examine whether insurance status is associated with any differences in cardiovascular events c Switzerland. Using data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, they analyzed the hospital admissions of 590,000 adults who received treatment in the year 2012 to 2020.

About 105,000 treatments include eight specific cardiovascular interventions, such as expanding coronary arteries or implanting a pacemaker. Of these, 64.4% were paid by health insurance.

The researchers used statistical methods to analyze this large data and look for differences that can be related to the insurance status of patients and that cannot be explained by other characteristics such as age, gender, co-morbidities, or the size and type of hospital.

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Those who hold additional insurance often receive additional treatment

Overall, both insurance holders and people with additional private insurance had progressively higher accident rates over the years of the study, a except for the first two COVID-19 waves in 2020.

However, the chance of having a heart attack was 11% higher for those with supplemental insurance than for those with standard insurance. That equates to 895 additional incidents per year in all Switzerland.

“We observed a difference in the treatment received by the two groups that cannot be explained by the disease,” said the study author Dr. Tristan Struja. “Our data shows that individuals with additional insurance receive treatment that is difficult to justify from a medical perspective and may be unnecessary.”

In fact, people with private supplemental insurance tend to be better educated, have higher incomes, are healthier, and are more affordable. in hospitals less than people with only standard insurance. If anything, we hope they need a few more distractions.

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Rethink the current system

The study authors do not believe that the reasons for different treatment are hospitals: “We think that people with special private insurance receive medical treatment more often, in part because they spend more money in their health insurance,” said Professor Philip Schutzresearch group leader in the Department of Medical Research in the University of Basel. “At the same time, the hospitals have an economic incentive to carry out medical treatment on this marginalized class of patients rather than risking or better performing some external tests.”

The authors of the study say that this leads to poor distribution of health services. They recommend a review of fees for private patients and reform efforts to focus more on the quality of care.

Researchers from Aarau Cantonal Hospital and University of Basel and Suri participated in the study.

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First edition

Tristan Struja, Flurina Suter, Sabine Rohrmann, Daniel KochPunch Mueller, Philip Schuetz, Alexander Kutz

Comparison of Rates of Clinical Prescription in Patients with Supplementary vs. Primary Insurance inside Switzerland

JAMA Network Open (2023), doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.51965

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AUTHOR: JAMA Netw Open https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2800687

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Original text here: https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/Private-patients-receive-treatment-for-heart-conditions-more-often.html