Healthcare costs for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a Japanese university hospital: a cross-sectional study

Shunsuke Uno; Rei Goto; Kimiko Honda; Machiko Tokuda; Hirofumi Kamata; Shotaro Chubachi; Ryo Yamamoto; Yukio Sato; Koichiro Homma; Sho Uchida; Ho Namkoong; Yoshifumi Uwamino; Junichi Sasaki; Koichi Fukunaga; Naoki Hasegawa

doi:10.1186/s12962-023-00453-9

Healthcare costs for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a Japanese university hospital: a cross-sectional study

Cost Eff Resour Alloc. 2023 Jul 16;21(1):43. doi: 10.1186/s12962-023-00453-9.

Authors

Shunsuke Uno¹, Rei Goto^{2

3}, Kimiko Honda^{3

4}, Machiko Tokuda³, Hirofumi Kamata⁵, Shotaro Chubachi⁵, Ryo Yamamoto⁶, Yukio Sato⁶, Koichiro Homma⁶, Sho Uchida⁷, Ho Namkoong⁷, Yoshifumi Uwamino⁸, Junichi Sasaki⁶, Koichi Fukunaga⁵, Naoki Hasegawa⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Keio University School of Medicine, 35, Shinanomachi, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. suno@keio.jp.
² Graduate School of Business Administration, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Health Management, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan.
⁴ Center of Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment, Keio University Global Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
⁷ Department of Infectious Diseases, Keio University School of Medicine, 35, Shinanomachi, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: A health-economic evaluation related to COVID-19 is urgently needed to allocate healthcare resources efficiently; however, relevant medical cost data in Japan concerning COVID-19 are scarce.

Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated the healthcare cost for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 2021 at Keio University Hospital. We calculated the healthcare costs during hospitalization using hospital claims data and investigated the variables significantly related to the healthcare cost with multivariable analysis.

Results: The median healthcare cost per patient for the analyzed 330 patients was Japanese yen (JPY) 1,304,431 (US dollars ~ 11,871) (interquartile range: JPY 968,349-1,954,093), and the median length of stay was 10 days. The median healthcare cost was JPY 798,810 for mild cases; JPY 1,113,680 for moderate I cases; JPY 1,643,909 for moderate II cases; and JPY 6,210,607 for severe cases. Healthcare costs increased by 4.0% for each additional day of hospitalization; 1.26 times for moderate I cases, 1.64 times for moderate II cases, and 1.84 times for severe cases compared to mild cases; and 2.05 times for cases involving ICU stay compared to those not staying in ICU.

Conclusions: We clarified the healthcare cost for hospitalized COVID-19 patients by severity in a Japanese university hospital. These costs contribute as inputs for forthcoming health economic evaluations for strategies for preventing and treating COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Economic evaluation; Healthcare costs; Hospital length of stay; Hospitalization.