What can we learn from a cross-country comparison of the costs of child delivery?

Abstract

SUMMARYThis study provides a comparative analysis of the costs of normal delivery in hospital in nine European countries using the data collected as part of the HealthBASKET project. The results show that both the level of input (medical labour) prices and the skill mix used for delivery are major determinants of total delivery costs. At the hospital level, there seems to be room for greater efficiency through specialisation and task shifting from doctors to midwives and nurses. More generally, the results of our study suggest that the costs of delivery in hospital are not independent of supplementary home care provided outside of hospitals. The cost information and analysis in this study may also be useful for developing healthcare-specific purchasing power parities (PPPs) that allow for healthcare expenditures to be compared across countries.

The choice of obstetric care by low-risk pregnant women in the Netherlands: Implications for policy and management

“…In case of a high-risk pregnancy or complications during birth, the woman is referred to an obstetrician and the birth always takes place in a hospital [1][2][3]. The home birth rate in the Netherlands slightly decreased during the last decade (from 35% to 29%) [4], but it remains uniquely high compared to other industrialised countries [5][6][7]. The literature explains this high home birth rate by the specific combination of social, cultural, political and organisational factors largely in favour of the social model of obstetric care for low-risk pregnant women (opposite to the technocratic model that prevails in other countries) [8][9][10][11][12].…”

Overbelegg og faregrense for dødelighet

“…In addition, obstetricians may be inclined to provide more medicalised services. A study of nine European countries found that the cost of delivery is lower in those countries and hospitals that employ more midwives and nurses than obstetricians (Bellanger and Or, 2008).…”

Panorama de la santé 2013

“…Quelle que soit la place respective de ces professionnels dans les différents pays, les progrès réalisés au cours des dernières décennies en matière de conseil prénatal et de surveillance de la grossesse, ainsi que les progrès de l'obstétrique dans le domaine des accouchements compliqués, ont entraîné une forte baisse de la mortalité périnatale dans tous les pays de l'OCDE. (Bellanger et Or, 2008).…”