Healthcare costs for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a Japanese university hospital: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: Cost effectiveness and resource allocation Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 43 - 8
• Main Authors: Uno, Shunsuke, Goto, Rei, Honda, Kimiko, Tokuda, Machiko, Kamata, Hirofumi, Chubachi, Shotaro, Yamamoto, Ryo, Sato, Yukio, Homma, Koichiro, Uchida, Sho, Namkoong, Ho, Uwamino, Yoshifumi, Sasaki, Junichi, Fukunaga, Koichi, Hasegawa, Naoki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 16.07.2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; Costs; COVID-19; Cross-sectional studies; Disease control; Disease transmission; Drugs; Economic aspects; Economic evaluation; Epidemics; Fees & charges; Generalized linear models; Health care expenditures; Health economics; Health insurance; Healthcare costs; Hospital length of stay; Hospital patients; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Intensive care; Length of stay; Medical care, Cost of; Mortality; Nosocomial infections; Nursing; Patients; Public health; Ventilators; Japan; COVID-19; Healthcare costs; Hospital length of stay; Hospitalization; Economic evaluation
• ISSN: 1478-7547; 1478-7547
• DOI: 10.1186/s12962-023-00453-9

A health-economic evaluation related to COVID-19 is urgently needed to allocate healthcare resources efficiently; however, relevant medical cost data in Japan concerning COVID-19 are scarce. This cross-sectional study investigated the healthcare cost for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 2021 at Keio University Hospital. We calculated the healthcare costs during hospitalization using hospital claims data and investigated the variables significantly related to the healthcare cost with multivariable analysis. The median healthcare cost per patient for the analyzed 330 patients was Japanese yen (JPY) 1,304,431 (US dollars ~ 11,871) (interquartile range: JPY 968,349-1,954,093), and the median length of stay was 10 days. The median healthcare cost was JPY 798,810 for mild cases; JPY 1,113,680 for moderate I cases; JPY 1,643,909 for moderate II cases; and JPY 6,210,607 for severe cases. Healthcare costs increased by 4.0% for each additional day of hospitalization; 1.26 times for moderate I cases, 1.64 times for moderate II cases, and 1.84 times for severe cases compared to mild cases; and 2.05 times for cases involving ICU stay compared to those not staying in ICU. We clarified the healthcare cost for hospitalized COVID-19 patients by severity in a Japanese university hospital. These costs contribute as inputs for forthcoming health economic evaluations for strategies for preventing and treating COVID-19.