In a rapidly aging society, inappropriately long geropsychiatric inpatient hospitalization
is a challenging concern for mental health policy-makers and researchers. This study
aimed to investigate patient and institutional factors affecting geropsychiatric inpatient
length of stay (LOS), providing an overview of current geropsychiatric health care
system in South Korea.
This retrospective, population-based, cross-sectional study analysed nationwide reimbursement
claim databases covering the entire elderly population of Korea between January 2005
and June 2006. Given the nested structure of the data, a multivariate multilevel regression
analysis was performed.
The average LOS was 128 days. Males, patients with schizophrenia, and those enrolled
in a National Medical Care Aid program tended to have longer hospital stays. Patient
age was negatively related to LOS. Institutional variables related to longer hospitalizations
included a psychiatric hospital, a higher number of beds, fewer human resource employees,
a higher proportion of male, oldest old, and patients with dementia.
Our results suggest that policies targeting geropsychiatric patients diagnosed with
schizophrenia, enrolled in National Medical Care Aid programs, and admitted to psychiatric
hospitals could reduce LOS. Additionally, the impact of the patient composition of
a medical institution on LOS needs to be closely investigated.