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Updated: Sep 20, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
New benchmarks offer insight into neonatal practice patterns
Insights
Practice variation impacts medically complex newborns, leading to suboptimal outcomes and increased healthcare costs. A nationwide review highlights this challenge, offering a benchmarking tool for improvement.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Medicine
- Healthcare Management
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Reducing practice variation is a significant challenge in managing clinically complex patient populations.
- Variation in care can negatively impact patient outcomes and increase healthcare expenditures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze practice variation in the care of premature and medically complex newborns nationwide.
- To assess the impact of this variation on patient outcomes and healthcare costs.
Main Methods:
- Conducted a nationwide review of over 13,000 premature and medically complex newborns.
- Utilized data to identify and quantify practice variations in clinical management.
Main Results:
- Identified significant practice variations in the care provided to this vulnerable patient group.
- Demonstrated a correlation between practice variation and less-than-optimal outcomes for newborns.
- Highlighted unnecessary costs incurred by the healthcare system due to this variation.
Conclusions:
- Practice variation poses a substantial risk to the health outcomes of medically complex newborns.
- The findings provide a crucial benchmarking tool for healthcare providers to reduce variation.
- Addressing practice variation is essential for improving newborn care and controlling healthcare costs.
Abstract:
Reducing practice variation in clinically complex patient populations is one of the biggest challenges in medicine. Paidos Health Management Services has released a fascinating nationwide review of more than 13,000 premature and other medically complex newborns. The report--an invaluable benchmarking tool--demonstrates that variation often leads to less-than-optimal outcomes for newborns and unnecessary costs to the health care system.
