Evaluate the effectiveness of Diagnosis-Intervention Packet (DIP) reform among inpatients diagnosed with cancer in Guangzhou, China: interrupted time-series analyses based on a 5-year research period

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the DIP reformation effects among cancer inpatients. Materials and methods: A total of 13085 observations from a tertiary hospital in Guangzhou city were evaluated by mortality, 30-day readmission rate, length of stay (LOS), disease severity, total expenditures (TE), and out-of-pocket (OOP) and OOP ratio. We used interrupted time-series analysis (ITSA) to evaluate the effect for control for the confounding factors. Results: A slightly increasing trend of 30-day readmission rate, LOS, comorbidity, and OOP were showed at the time of intervention. TE showed an apparent increase at the time of intervention (9159.580, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 6543.959~11775.200, P < 0.001). OOP ratio showed an apparent decrease at the time of intervention (-0.0889, 95% CI: -0.1119~-0.0659, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study shows that DIP has been effective in alleviating the personal economic burden of health and maintaining the quality of healthcare services.