Research
A German national prevalence study on the cost of intensive care: an evaluation from 51 intensive care units
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* Corresponding author: Onnen Moerer omoerer@gwdg.de
1 Department of Anaesthesiology, Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, University of Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Straße 40, Göttingen 37075, Germany
2 HealthEcon Ltd, Steinentorstraße 19, Basel 4051, Switzerland
3 Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Bremen, Bibliothekstraße 1, Bremen 28359, Germany
Critical Care 2007, 11:R69 doi:10.1186/cc5952
Published: 26 June 2007Abstract
Introduction
Intensive care unit (ICU) costs account for up to 20% of a hospital's costs. We aimed to analyse the individual patient-related cost of intensive care at various hospital levels and for different groups of disease.
Methods
Data from 51 ICUs all over Germany (15 primary care hospitals and 14 general care hospitals, 10 maximal care hospitals and 12 focused care hospitals) were collected in an observational, cross-sectional, one-day point prevalence study by two external study physicians (January–October 2003). All ICU patients (length of stay > 24 hours) treated on the study day were included. The reason for admission, severity of illness, surgical/diagnostic procedures, resource consumption, ICU/hospital length of stay, outcome and ICU staffing structure were documented.
Results
Altogether 453 patients were included. ICU (hospital) mortality was 12.1% (15.7%). The reason for admission and the severity of illness differed between the hospital levels of care, with a higher amount of unscheduled surgical procedures and patients needing mechanical ventilation in maximal care hospital and focused care hospital facilities. The mean total costs per day were €791 ± 305 (primary care hospitals, €685 ± 234; general care hospitals, €672 ± 199; focused care hospitals, €816 ± 363; maximal care hospitals, €923 ± 306), with the highest cost in septic patients (€1,090 ± 422). Differences were associated with staffing, the amount of prescribed drugs/blood products and diagnostic procedures.
Conclusion
The reason for admission, the severity of illness and the occurrence of severe sepsis are directly related to the level of ICU cost. A high fraction of costs result from staffing (up to 62%). Specialized and maximum care hospitals treat a higher proportion of the more severely ill and most expensive patients.