Key result
Acute heart failure re-admission increases annual medical costs by ~89%, with index hospitalization driving expenses.
Why the study?
Annual medical costs associated with acute heart failure events and their contributing factors were not well characterized using real-world data in South Korea.
Cohort (n=330)
Yes
Hospitalization accounts for 95% of the substantial annual medical costs in South Korean patients following an acute heart failure event, highlighting the economic burden of re-admissions and prolonged hospital stays.
Underscores re-admission prevention to limit acute HF costs; leaves open optimal interventions in observational cohorts.
AIMS: This study investigated annual medical costs using real-world data focusing on acute heart failure. METHODS: The data were retrospectively collected from six tertiary hospitals in South Korea. Overall, 330 patients who were hospitalized for acute heart failure between January 2011 and July 2012 were selected. Data were collected on their follow-up medical visits for 1 year, including medical costs incurred toward treatment. Those who died within the observational period or who had no records of follow-up visits were excluded. Annual per patient medical costs were estimated according to the type of medical services, and factors contributing to the costs using Gamma Generalized Linear Models (GLM) with log link were analyzed. RESULTS: On average, total annual medical costs for each patient were USD 6,199 (±9,675), with hospitalization accounting for 95% of the total expenses. Hospitalization cost USD 5,904 (±9,666) per patient. Those who are re-admitted have 88.5% higher medical expenditure than those who have not been re-admitted in 1 year, and patients using intensive care units have 19.6% higher expenditure than those who do not. When the number of hospital days increased by 1 day, medical expenses increased by 6.7%. LIMITATIONS: Outpatient drug costs were not included. There is a possibility that medical expenses for AHF may have been under-estimated. CONCLUSION: It was found that hospitalization resulted in substantial costs for treatment of heart failure in South Korea, especially in patients with an acute heart failure event. Prevention strategies and appropriate management programs that would reduce both frequency of hospitalization and length of stay for patients with the underlying risk of heart failure are needed.
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Kim et al. (2017) conducted a cohort in acute heart failure (n=330). Acute heart failure was evaluated on Annual per patient medical costs. In patients hospitalized for acute heart failure, average annual medical costs were USD 6,199, with hospitalization accounting for 95% of expenses and re-admission increasing costs by 88.5%.
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