Costs for the health care of newborns weighing up to 1500 g at Penna Hospital, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Hospital department cost systems allow to evaluate resource use efficiency and are the foundation for comparative studies between patient groups with differential characteristics. Neonatal admission of low birth weight children is of particular interest due to its complexity and high cost. The objective was to estimate the direct costs of hospitalization day in Penna Interzonal Hospital, considering neonatal patients with weight at admission less than or equal to 1500 grams in 2019. METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out using data collected from the neonatology, purchasing and personnel departments of the Hospital. The average cost per hospitalization day and discharge in the department as a whole and in newborns weighing less than 1500 grams was estimated. RESULTS: The study was carried out on 489 discharged patients. The average direct cost per hospitalization day was ARS 17,755. For the group ≤ 1500 grams, the average days of hospitalization was 55.9 and the average cost per discharge was ARS 992,191. For the group weighing ≤ 1000 grams, it was 80.6 days and ARS 1,430,229, respectively. A strong impact of low birth weight on costs was evidenced - 8% of neonatal patients discharged alive generate 33% of the costs of the neonatal hospitalization process. DISCUSSION: It is important to carry out cost studies per hospital department, especially by groups of cases, in order to generate useful information for decision-making.