IJERPH, Vol. 18, Pages 11166: The Financial Burden of Surgery for Congenital Malformations —The Austrian Perspective

IJERPH, Vol. 18, Pages 11166: The Financial Burden of Surgery for Congenital Malformations—The Austrian Perspective International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111166 Authors: Paolo Gasparella Georg Singer Bernhard Kienesberger Christoph Arneitz Gerhard Fülöp Christoph Castellani Holger Till Johannes Schalamon Neonatal “surgical” malformations are associated with higher costs than major “non-surgical” birth defects. We aimed to analyze the financial burden on the Austrian health system of five congenital malformations requiring timely postnatal surgery. The database of the Austrian National Public Health Institute for the period from 2002 to 2014 was reviewed. Diagnosis-related group (DRG) points assigned to hospital admissions containing five congenital malformations coded as principal diagnosis (esophageal atresia, duodenal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, gastroschisis, and omphalocele) were collected and compared to all hospitalizations for other reasons. Out of 3,518,625 total hospitalizations, there were 1664 admissions of patients with the selected malformations. The annual mean number was 128 (SD 17, range 110–175). The mean cost of the congenital malformations per hospital admission expressed in DRG points was 26,588 (range 0–465,772, SD 40,702) and was significantly higher compared to the other hospitalizations (n = 3,516,961; mean DRG 2194, range 0–834,997; SD 6161; p &...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research