Table 1.
Encounter Characteristics
| Cost display for lab tests | Cost display for imaging tests | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-intervention | Post-intervention | p value | Pre-intervention | Post-intervention | p value | |
| Hospital encounters (N) | 115,496 | 132,718 | 131,311 | 126,956 | ||
| Unique patients | 81,618 | 92,594 | 91,515 | 89,044 | ||
| Patient hospital days | 623,026 | 699,047 | 697,325 | 666,427 | ||
| Sex, n (%) | .04 | .52 | ||||
| Female | 64,983 (56.3%) | 75,213 (56.7%) | 74,185 (56.5%) | 71,567 (56.4%) | ||
| Male | 50,513 (43.7%) | 57,504 (43.3%) | 57,125 (43.5%) | 55,389 (43.6%) | ||
| Not reported | 0 (0.00%) | 1 (0.00%) | 1 (0.00%) | 0 (0.00%) | ||
| Race, n (%) | < .001 | < .001 | ||||
| White | 74,543 (64.5%) | 84,027 (63.3%) | 83,168 (63.3%) | 80,116 (63.1%) | ||
| Black/African-American | 20,878 (18.1%) | 23,955 (18.1%) | 24,413 (18.6%) | 22,484 (17.7%) | ||
| Asian | 1911 (1.7%) | 2102 (1.6%) | 2107 (1.6%) | 2035 (1.6%) | ||
| American-Indian | 116 (0.1%) | 82 (0.1%) | 98 (0.1%) | 105 (0.1%) | ||
| Pacific Islander | 65 (0.1%) | 96 (0.1%) | 84 (0.1%) | 94 (0.1%) | ||
| Other | 15,422 (13.4%) | 19,111 (14.4%) | 18,348 (14.0%) | 18,326 (14.4%) | ||
| Not reported | 2561 (2.2%) | 3345 (2.5%) | 3093 (2.4%) | 3796 (3.0%) | ||
| Ethnicity, n (%) | < .001 | < .001 | ||||
| Non-Hispanic | 97,818 (84.7%) | 110,380 (83.2%) | 109,969 (83.8%) | 104,738 (82.5%) | ||
| Hispanic | 16,337 (14.1%) | 20,443 (15.4%) | 19,616 (14.9%) | 19,956 (15.7%) | ||
| Not reported | 1341 (1.2%) | 1895 (1.4%) | 1726 (1.3%) | 2262 (1.8%) | ||
| Median age at admission, years (interquartile range) | 53.3 (30.6–71.2) | 53.2 (30.3–71.3) | .21 | 53.1 (30.5–71.2) | 53.7 (30.8–71.6) | .002 |
| Observation status, n (%) | 16,319 (14.1%) | 22,142 (16.7%) | < .001 | 20,639 (15.7%) | 22,033 (17.4%) | < .001 |
| Pediatric status, n (%) | 17,988 (15.6%) | 20,622 (15.5%) | .80 | 20,228 (15.4%) | 19,100 (15.0%) | .01 |
| Primary payer, n (%) | < .001 | < .001 | ||||
| Medicare | 46,080 (39.9%) | 51,482 (38.8%) | 51,757 (39.4%) | 48,881 (38.5%) | ||
| Private insurance | 37,399 (32.4%) | 42,648 (32.1%) | 41,754 (31.8%) | 41,180 (32.4%) | ||
| Medicaid | 28,140 (24.4%) | 34,524 (26.0%) | 33,653 (25.6%) | 33,317 (26.2%) | ||
| Self-Pay | 3877 (3.4%) | 4064 (3.1%) | 4147 (3.2%) | 3578 (2.8%) | ||
| Elixhauser comorbidity Score, n (%) | < .001 | .007 | ||||
| 0 | 60,128 (52.1%) | 68,050 (51.3%) | 68,473 (52.1%) | 66,040 (52.0%) | ||
| 1–5 | 21,045 (18.2%) | 24,040 (18.1%) | 23,684 (18.0%) | 22,610 (17.8%) | ||
| 6–10 | 12,317 (10.7%) | 14,327 (10.8%) | 13,813 (10.5%) | 13,843 (10.9%) | ||
| 11–15 | 9710 (8.4%) | 11,246 (8.5%) | 11,009 (8.4%) | 10,708 (8.4%) | ||
| 16–20 | 6757 (5.9%) | 7973 (6.0%) | 7701 (5.9%) | 7560 (6.0%) | ||
| 21+ | 5539 (4.8%) | 7082 (5.3%) | 6631 (5.0%) | 6195 (4.9%) | ||
| Median length of stay, days (interquartile range) | 4 (3–6) | 4 (3–6) | < .001 | 4 (3–6) | 4 (3–6) | < .001 |
Column percentages may not sum to 100.0% due to rounding. Comparisons were performed with the Pearson chi-square test (categorical variables) and the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test (continuous variables)