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Direct Costs of COVID-19 Inpatient Admissions in a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed greater financial pressure on health systems and institutions that had to respond to the specific needs of COVID-19 patients while ensuring the safety of the diagnosis and treatment of all patients and healthcare professionals. To assess the financial impa...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
S. Karger AG
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9148881/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37753497 http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000524368 |
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author | Seringa, Joana Pedreiras, Sérgio Freitas, Maria João Valente de Matos, Rosa Rocha, João Millett, Christopher Santana, Rui |
author_facet | Seringa, Joana Pedreiras, Sérgio Freitas, Maria João Valente de Matos, Rosa Rocha, João Millett, Christopher Santana, Rui |
author_sort | Seringa, Joana |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed greater financial pressure on health systems and institutions that had to respond to the specific needs of COVID-19 patients while ensuring the safety of the diagnosis and treatment of all patients and healthcare professionals. To assess the financial impact of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals, we have characterized the cost of COVID-19 admissions, using inpatient data from a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre. METHODS: We analysed inpatient data from adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were admitted between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020. Admissions were eligible if the ICD-10-CM principal diagnosis was coded U07.1. We excluded admissions from patients under 18 years old, admissions with incomplete records, admissions from patients who had been transferred to or from other hospitals or those whose inpatient stay was under 24 h. Pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium admissions were also excluded, as well as admissions from patients who had undergone surgery. RESULTS: We identified 223 admissions of patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Most were men (64.1%) and aged 45–64 years (30.5%). Around 13.0% of patients were admitted to intensive care units and 9.9% died in hospital. The average length of hospital stay was 12.7 days (SD = 10.2) and the average estimated cost per admission was EUR 8,177 (SD = 11,534), which represents more than triple the inpatient base price (EUR 2,386). Human resources accounted for the highest proportion of the total costs per admission (50.8%). About 92.4% of the admissions were assigned to Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) 723, whose inpatient price is lower than COVID-19 inpatient costs for all degrees of severity. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 admissions represent a substantial financial burden for the Portuguese NHS. For each COVID-19 hospitalized patient it would have been possible to treat three other hospitalized patients. Also, the price set for DRG 723 is not adjusted to the cost of COVID-19 patients. These findings highlight the need for additional financial resources for the health system and, in particular, for hospitals that have treated high volumes of hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9148881 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | S. Karger AG |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-91488812022-05-31 Direct Costs of COVID-19 Inpatient Admissions in a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre Seringa, Joana Pedreiras, Sérgio Freitas, Maria João Valente de Matos, Rosa Rocha, João Millett, Christopher Santana, Rui Portuguese Journal of Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed greater financial pressure on health systems and institutions that had to respond to the specific needs of COVID-19 patients while ensuring the safety of the diagnosis and treatment of all patients and healthcare professionals. To assess the financial impact of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals, we have characterized the cost of COVID-19 admissions, using inpatient data from a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre. METHODS: We analysed inpatient data from adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were admitted between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020. Admissions were eligible if the ICD-10-CM principal diagnosis was coded U07.1. We excluded admissions from patients under 18 years old, admissions with incomplete records, admissions from patients who had been transferred to or from other hospitals or those whose inpatient stay was under 24 h. Pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium admissions were also excluded, as well as admissions from patients who had undergone surgery. RESULTS: We identified 223 admissions of patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Most were men (64.1%) and aged 45–64 years (30.5%). Around 13.0% of patients were admitted to intensive care units and 9.9% died in hospital. The average length of hospital stay was 12.7 days (SD = 10.2) and the average estimated cost per admission was EUR 8,177 (SD = 11,534), which represents more than triple the inpatient base price (EUR 2,386). Human resources accounted for the highest proportion of the total costs per admission (50.8%). About 92.4% of the admissions were assigned to Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) 723, whose inpatient price is lower than COVID-19 inpatient costs for all degrees of severity. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 admissions represent a substantial financial burden for the Portuguese NHS. For each COVID-19 hospitalized patient it would have been possible to treat three other hospitalized patients. Also, the price set for DRG 723 is not adjusted to the cost of COVID-19 patients. These findings highlight the need for additional financial resources for the health system and, in particular, for hospitals that have treated high volumes of hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19. S. Karger AG 2022-04-19 /pmc/articles/PMC9148881/ /pubmed/37753497 http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000524368 Text en Copyright © 2022 by S. Karger AG, Basel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC). Usage and distribution for commercial purposes requires written permission. Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug. Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Seringa, Joana Pedreiras, Sérgio Freitas, Maria João Valente de Matos, Rosa Rocha, João Millett, Christopher Santana, Rui Direct Costs of COVID-19 Inpatient Admissions in a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre |
title | Direct Costs of COVID-19 Inpatient Admissions in a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre |
title_full | Direct Costs of COVID-19 Inpatient Admissions in a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre |
title_fullStr | Direct Costs of COVID-19 Inpatient Admissions in a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre |
title_full_unstemmed | Direct Costs of COVID-19 Inpatient Admissions in a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre |
title_short | Direct Costs of COVID-19 Inpatient Admissions in a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre |
title_sort | direct costs of covid-19 inpatient admissions in a portuguese tertiary care university centre |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9148881/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37753497 http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000524368 |
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