Weighing the cost of care at teaching hospitals

Teaching hospitals — those that train the next generation of health professionals — are generally considered to be more expensive than nonteaching hospitals, which matters as insurers and policymakers try to get control of health care spending. But a new study challenges that thinking. A team of researchers looked at more than 1.2 million hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries for 21 conditions at more than 3,000 major teaching, minor teaching, and nonteaching hospitals. They found that while care was initially more costly at teaching hospitals, these centers actually had lower costs at the 30-day mark because of decreased spending on post-acute care and readmissions. Overall costs after 90 days were about the same regardless of the hospital. One note: The Association of American Medical Colleges funded the research.