Costs of inpatient care and out-of-pocket payments for COVID-19 patients: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective To identify the costs of hospital care for patients with COVID-19 and the amount of out-of-pocket payments. Methods We conducted a systematic review using Scopus and WEB OF SCIENCE and PubMed databases in April 5, 2022 and then updated in January 15, 2023. English articles with no publication year restrictions were included with study designs of cost-of-illness (COI) studies, cost analyses, and observational reports (cross-sectional studies and prospective and retrospective cohorts) that calculated the patient-level cost of care for COVID-19. Costs are reported in USD with purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion in 2020. The PROSPERO registration number is CRD42022334337. Results The results showed that the highest total cost of hospitalization in intensive care per patient was 100789 USD, which was reported in Germany, and the lowest cost was 5436.77 USD, which was reported in Romania. In the present study, in the special care department, the highest percentage of total expenses is related to treatment expenses (42.23 percent), while in the inpatient department, the highest percentage of total expenses is related to the costs of hospital beds/day of routine services (39.07 percent). The highest percentage of out-of-pocket payments was 30.65 percent, reported in China, and the lowest percentage of out-of-pocket payments was 1.12 percent, reported in Iran. The highest indirect cost per hospitalization was 16049 USD, reported in USA, and the lowest was 449.07 USD, reported in India. Conclusion The results show that the COVID-19 disease imposed a high cost of hospitalization, mainly the cost of hospital beds/day of routine services. Studies have used different methods for calculating the costs, and this has negatively impacted the comparability costs across studies. Therefore, it would be beneficial for researchers to use a similar cost calculation model to increase the compatibility of different studies. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42022334337

Unveiling the truth: is COVID-19 reimbursement in Colombia a flawed design? A cost-of-illness analysis for moderate, severe and critical infections

“…When comparing the retrospective resource utilisation study conducted by Alvis-Zakzuk et al 18 with our own findings regarding resource utilisation, Alvis-Zakzuk et al 18 reported a total cost per patient of US$6552, 20 which is lower than our mean of US$15 001. This suggests that their study likely included a population with a more moderate disease, considering the initial differences in sociodemographic variables.…”

“…LOS was identified as the primary driver of resource utilisation in both studies ( table 5 ). Gholipour et al ’s 20 systematic review indicates that the average cost of hospitalisation, categorised based on ICU hospitalisation and hospitalisation inwards, was US$18 741, which provides valuable context for our own findings with a mean cost of US$15 001.…”

“…It is noteworthy to emphasise the limited availability of research addressing the extent of resource utilisation in Latin America during the pandemic. Despite this scarcity, our efforts yielded two significant studies, Alvis-Zakzuk 18 et al in Colombia and Miethke-Morais et al 19 in Brazil, both of which were included in the systematic review conducted by Gholipour et al 20 on the costs of inpatient care and out-of-pocket payments for COVID-19 patients.…”

Machine Learning for Affordable Diagnosis of SARS-COV-2 from Hematological and Biochemical Tests

“…The costs associated with treating infected patients put significant pressure on health systems, especially in regions with limited resources [10]. Infected patients may require a diverse range of medical resources, from hospitalization in wards and ITUs to specialized interventions [11,12].…”

The First Two Years of COVID-19 Hospitalization Characteristics and Costs: Results from the National Discharge Registry

“…Due to the complexity of treating COVID-19 patients, especially in intensive care units, hospitalization costs have increased worldwide. A systematic review found that in Germany, the total cost of hospitalization in intensive care per patient was USD 100,789 [5]. Even though the world was neither prepared nor coordinated for such an emergency, there was an impressive mobilization of human societies worldwide.…”