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European Journal of Heart Failure 2000 2(3):291-297; doi:10.1016/S1388-9842(00)00089-1
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© 2000 European Society of Cardiology

Health care costs of heart failure: results from a randomised study of patient education

A. Björck Linnéa,*, H. Liedholma, S. Jendtegb and B. Israelssonc

a Department of Community Medicine, Malmö University Hospital, University of Lund Sweden
b The Swedish Institute of Health Economics Lund, Sweden
c Department of Cardiology, Malmö University Hospital, University of Lund Sweden

* Corresponding author. Department of Community Medicine, MFC, Malmö University Hospital, S-205 02 Malmö, Sweden. Tel.: +46-40-33-34-49; fax: +46-40-33-62-15. E-mail address: agneta.bjork-linne{at}smi.mas.lu.se (A. Björck Linné).


  Abstract

Background: Heart failure is a serious syndrome with a bad prognosis. Hospitalisation is common and readmittance rate is high; factors which influence the cost of care and treatment. Only scarce data on detailed patient materials regarding health care costs are known.

Aims: To describe in detail the health care costs for heart failure patients.

Methods: Costs for patients (n = 108) who completed a randomised education trial were studied for 6 months after hospital discharge. Costs for hospital stay, out-patient visits, diagnostic tests and procedures, laboratory analyses and drug treatment were calculated. Official unit prices list used to reimburse providers of cross-boundary health services and prices for drugs in the Swedish Drug Compendium were employed.

Results: The total cost for a heart failure patient was approximately 20000 SEK (2564 US$, 7.80 SEK = 1 US$) for 6 months. There was a 27-fold variation between patients. There was no relation between age or sex and cost. In decreasing order cost for hospitalisation was followed by costs for out-patient visits, diagnostic tests and procedures, laboratory analyses and drugs.

Conclusion: Hospitalisation was the largest part of the total cost and there was a large inter-individual variation. Efforts to reduce the economic burden should be focused on hospitalisation. Due to skewed distribution, individual data must be considered in the analysis of the efforts.

Key Words: Heart failure • Health care costs • Individual patients

Received January 14, 2000; Revised March 20, 2000; Accepted May 12, 2000


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