The effect of a physician education program on hospital length of stay and total patient charges

An experimental-control group study was carried out in a large community hospital in which the experimental variable consisted of a one-time exposure of physicians to clinical and financial specifics regarding their individual treatment and management of pneumonia patients. A computerized report generating technology was used to create individualized reports for physicians detailing their practice patterns with respect to pneumonia patients. It was found that providing physicians with specific information about their practice behavior resulted in these same physicians using fewer hospital resources as expressed in total billed charges and Length of Stay. At the same time there was no compromise in outcomes for patients as measured by mortality, readmission rates, and infection/complication rates. The improvement in resource utilization was observed for two years following the provision of practice specific data to the experimental physicians.