Length of Stay in Hospital
Cost of health care is of great concern in the United States. Individuals want
to have access to good health care but are concerned about the growing cost.
Health care providers and health insurance companies are also concerned
about cost. Consider the following scenario.
A health insurance company currently pays for up to 4 days in the hospital
for normal newborns (a normal newborn is actually a baby that has minor
health concerns at birth and is admitted to the hospital as a patient separate
from the mother). The health insurance company says their policy is fair
since 4 days is the average length of stay for this group of patients.
A random sample of 40 normal newborns is selected from a large hospital
and the length of stay, in days, for each is noted. The values appear below.
8, 6, 5, 1, 7, 9, 5, 3, 4, 5
4, 3, 5, 6, 2, 6, 4, 5, 6, 2
1, 5, 3, 2, 4, 4, 1, 3, 6, 5
2, 4, 6, 5, 5, 7, 3, 9, 2, 7
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Why is the average length of stay a meaningful summary for these
data?
What other summaries would be helpful in describing these data?
What do these data tell us about the health insurance company’s claim
that the average length of stay for normal newborns is 4 days? Could
this average length of stay be greater than 4 days? What are
reasonable values for the average length of stay?
What do you think about the fairness of the health insurance
company’s policy? Use numerical and graphical summaries to
support your case.
What are reasonable values for the next normal newborn’s length of
stay?