OBJECTIVE: This retrospective study examined both the use of abciximab treatment and, its impact on hospital length of stay among angioplasty patients enrolled in managed care organizations. METHODS: Retrospective billing data was obtained for a sample of 1,847 angioplasty patients who were enrolled in US managed care organizations. Multivariate analysis was used to control for a wide range of factors (patient demographics, comorbidities, admission and discharge information, and hospital characteristics such as region of the country, size, number of angioplasties performed per year) that may influence a patient’s likelihood of receiving abciximab or impact their length of stay in the hospital. Estimation was conducted via a two-stage sample selection model. RESULTS: Patients in poorer health were more likely to receive abciximab. After controlling for high-risk indications and selection bias, results indicate that in contrast with studies involving other payers, women and minorities enrolled in these managed care organizations had the same access to abciximab as other members. Furthermore, results indicate that angioplasty patients who were given abciximab had a significantly shorter length of stay (0.59 fewer days + 0.24 days) than those patients who did not receive abciximab. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that there are potential economic benefits for hospitals administering abciximab. Given that hospital length of stay has been found to be one of the most important determinants of total health care costs, the reduced length of stay found in this study implies cost off-sets for patients receiving abciximab.