Analysis of hospital costs by morbidity group for patients with severe mental illness

[EN] Objectives The goal of this study is to analyse hospital costs and length of stay of patients admitted to psychiatric units in hospitals in a European region of the Mediterranean Arc. The aim is to identify the effects of comorbidities and other variables in order to create an explanatory cost...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Caballer-Tarazona, Vicent, Zúñiga-Lagares, Antonio, Reyes Santia, Francisco
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/198605
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/198605
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Mental Illness
Length of stay
Hospital costs
Comorbidities
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Objectives The goal of this study is to analyse hospital costs and length of stay of patients admitted to psychiatric units in hospitals in a European region of the Mediterranean Arc. The aim is to identify the effects of comorbidities and other variables in order to create an explanatory cost model. Methods In order to carry out the study, the Ministry of Health was asked to provide data on access to the mental health facilities of all hospitals in the region. Among other questions, this database identifies the most important diagnostic variables related to admission, like comorbidities, age and gender. The method used, based on the Manning-Mullahy algorithm, was linear regression. The results were measured by the statistical significance of the independent variables to determine which of them were valid to explain the cost of hospitalization. Results Psychiatric inpatients can be divided into three main groups (psychotic, organic and neurotic), which have statistically significant differences in costs. The independent variables that were statistically significant (p <.05) and their respective beta and confidence intervals were: psychotic group (19,833.0 +/- 317.3), organic group (9,878.4 +/- 276.6), neurotic group (11,060.1 +/- 287.6), circulatory system diseases (19,170 +/- 517.6), injuries and poisoning (21,101.6 +/- 738.7), substance abuse (20,580.6 +/- 514, 6) and readmission (19,150.9 +/- 555.4). Conclusions Unlike most health services, access to psychiatric facilities does not correlate with comorbidities due to the specific nature of this specialization. Patients admitted to psychosis had higher costs and a higher number of average stays KEY MESSAGES The highest average hospital expenditure occurred in patients admitted for psychotic disorders. Due to the particularities of psychiatry units and unlike other medical specialties, the number of comorbidities did not influence the number of hospital stays or hospital expenditure. Apart from the main diagnostic group, the variables that were useful to explain hospital expenditure were the presence of poisoning and injuries as comorbidity, diseases of circulatory system as comorbidity, history of substance abuse and readmission.