Sure
First a quick explanation of why the graph is unexpected:
If you eliminate unnecesarry referrals (e.g. by using a referral management centre) then they should form a lower
proportion of the total spend - this is because referrals only affect certain elements in expenditure (prescribing, community, A/E etc.
should not be affected) so the total spend does not fall in parallel.
For example: a 50% drop in referrals may only lead to a 20% drop in overall costs. if referrals drop from £10 to £5 and the total spend drops from say £100 to £80 then New OP costs/total expenditure will
drop from 10/100 or 10% to 5/80 or 6.25%. --- that's the theory.
If you look at the graph you'll see the reverse ---- it fairly scattered but the trend is that an increasing % spent on new out-patients leads to a fall in total expenditure
---- it certainly doesn't show the reduction in spend/patient we've all been told.
Roger