Patients in England either pay for healthcare themselves with private insurance or receive assistance from a taxpayer-funded system known as the UK National Health Service (NHS). According to new research out of the University of Bristol, patient outcomes after cardiac surgery are significantly improved when the patient is paying for his or her own care.
The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, examined data from more than 280,000 patients who received care from 2009 to 2018 at one of 31 NHS cardiac units in England. NHS covered the costs for a vast majority—more than 274,000—of those patients
Overall, researchers found that private payers were 20% less likely to die or develop major complications than when the procedure was paid for by the NHS.
“These are patients who are treated in the same hospitals, by the same clinical teams, and yet we have found stark differences in survival between those who pay and those who don’t,” co-lead author Umberto Benedetto, MD, PhD, a professor at Bristol University and cardiac surgeon for NHS, said in a statement. “It’s tempting to assume this is due to private payers having a more affluent and therefore better quality of life with fewer comorbidities. However, after analyzing the data, we found evidence supporting the hypothesis that private patients receive a better care.”
“This should stimulate further investigations in order to identify interventions which can tackle health inequalities,” added co-lead author Arnaldo Dimagli, MD, an honorary research fellow at Bristol University. “For example, it is possible that NHS payers have to wait longer to get their operation. This can expose them to the risk of deterioration before surgery which can affect their outcomes.”
Read the full study here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.