Cost drivers of public hospital occupational therapy outpatient care

✍ Scribed by Karen Grimmer; Esther May

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 162 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0045-0766
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1630.2001.00245.x

✦ Synopsis

This study examined the associations between various patient‐related, demographic and episode‐based factors, and the length of time associated with completed episodes of outpatient (ambulatory) occupational therapy care. Data were provided over a 10‐month period by eight public hospitals in three Australian states. An episode described occupational therapy outpatient management for one patient with one condition, and consisted of start and finish dates, and all the occasions of service in between. The median value of the total patient‐attributable time of an occupational therapy episode of care was 70 min. Factors that were strongly associated with long occupational therapy episodes were age, communication issues and hospital location (metropolitan or country). This study provides the basis for future investigations into the costs of providing ‘best practice’ occupational therapy outpatient services.