ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1563204
The Impact of DRG Payment Reform on Inpatient Costs for Different Surgery Types: An Empirical Analysis Based on Chinese Tertiary Hospitals
Provisionally accepted
- 1Panzhihua Central Hospital, Panzhihua, China
- 2Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, chengdu, China
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Background: To evaluate the impact of DRG (Diagnosis-Related Group) payment reform on inpatient costs for four major types of surgery at a tertiary hospital in China, with a focus on its implementation in general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, and urology.Methods: Based on inpatient data from 2019 to 2023, the study employed Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Difference-in-Differences (DiD) models to compare inpatient cost differences between the DRG payment group and the non-DRG payment group. Concentration indices were used to assess the consistency of inpatient cost distribution.The DRG payment reform significantly reduced the total inpatient costs for surgeries in general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, and urology, particularly in terms of drug and material expenses. Additionally, the inpatient cost distribution in the DRG payment group became more concentrated, indicating a significant reduction in the proportion of high-cost cases.The DRG payment reform effectively controlled inpatient costs in Chinese tertiary hospitals, particularly for complex surgical procedures, and improved the efficiency of healthcare resource utilization. This study provides empirical support for the further implementation of DRG payment reform and offers policy recommendations for optimizing China's healthcare payment system.
Keywords: DRG payment reform, surgery types, inpatient costs, Chinese Tertiary Hospitals, Multivariate regression analysis
Received: 19 Jan 2025; Accepted: 20 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Luo, Li, Li, Wu, Lan and Xie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mingwei Luo, Panzhihua Central Hospital, Panzhihua, China
Shiwei Xie, Panzhihua Central Hospital, Panzhihua, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.