Situation and Healthcare Cost Among Hospitalized Patients Aged 1 month to 5 Years with Pneumonia

Abstract

Background: Pneumonia is a common disease and has as high as a 15% fatality rate in children aged 1 month to 5 years.

Objective: To study the situation and healthcare cost among children hospitalized with pneumonia.

Materials and Methods: Medical records of hospitalized pediatric patients with pneumonia between October 2015 - September 2018 were retrieved from the 43 Hospital Database (N = 1,534 patients). The data in the Excel file format were transferred to the R program for further analysis with descriptive statistics.

Results: The results indicated the number of hospitalized patients had decreased between 2016 (89.9%) to 2018 (75.4%). Most patients were male aged between 1-2 years. The most common complications were respiratory failure (5.7 %) and septic shock (0.8%). The readmission rate was 2.8%. The death rate was 0.25% and only found in patients with comorbidities. The mean length of stay (LOS) was 4.5±4.0 days, and the mean cost of healthcare was 9,928.6±17,289.2 baht per case. The reimbursement from the National Health Security Office was 2,270.3 baht per case lower than the actual cost spent.

Conclusions: The average length of stay and the healthcare cost is higher than the standard DRG, which leads to some monetary loss. This loss was due to many patients with comorbidities and complications. Patients with comorbidities need special attention to reduce their fatality.