Higher costs don't equal better care

New York -- A survey of Pennsylvania hospitals has found that higher medical payments don't necessarily equal better patient care.

The Pennsylvania government surveyed the 60 hospitals in the state that perform heart bypass surgery. The best-paid hospital received an average of nearly $100,000 per surgery, while the lowest-paid got less than $20,000, The New York Times said Thursday.

The survey found that two of the highest-paid hospitals in the Philadelphia-area had higher-than-expected death rates.

"It doesn't make sense," Marc P. Volavka, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, told the Times. "Certain payers are paying an awful lot for poor quality."

Hospitals had various reasons for the difference in price and said a single very expensive case can push up the averages.

"The current reimbursement paradigm is fundamentally broken," said Dr. Ronald Paulus of Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania, which is experimenting with a 30-day warranty on its cardiac surgery.

Paulus said there is no financial incentive for a hospital to provide the kind of care that leads to better outcomes and lower payments.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.