A subset of the data from the case “Health Care
Costs for Newborns in Adirondack Hospitals” will be used in
this case. The data source is New York State’s Statewide Planning
and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) which collects patient-level
health care data for the purpose of providing health care organizations
with information that will enable them to efficiently and cost effectively
deliver services. This data reporting system was established in 1979
and collects data on patient characteristics, diagnoses, treatments,
and services for inpatient, ambulatory surgery, emergency department
admission, and outpatient visits. We will use the publically available,
de-identified data for inpatient stays for 2014 to examine the total
costs associated with newborns. Total costs are the actual cost of
the services provided; total charges are the amounts charged to insurers.