Medical expenses of neonatal intensive care for very low birthweight infants

The in-hospital medical expenses for 90 very low birthweight (VLBW) infants weighing 1500 g or less at birth, whose parents had private health insurance, was reported. The median total and daily charges per survivor was $5,883 and $70 respectively. The median total and daily charges per non-survivor was $1,113 and $450 respectively. The medical expenses per VLBW survivor calculated for all 375 VLBW infants, admitted for neonatal intensive care over the 4 year period, was $6,813. This ranged from $10,000 per survivor for the 11 survivors in the 501 g-750 g birthweight group to $5,363 per survivor for the 145 survivors in the 1251 g-1500 g birthweight group. As these charges were probably a small proportion of the resource costs in providing a neonatal intensive care service, society at large was bearing most of the cost. Nevertheless, we believe that with the present decline in neonatal mortality and morbidity in VLBW infants, the outcome of neonatal intensive care justifies the cost.