The cost of clinical management of SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) infection by level of disease severity in Ghana: a protocol-based cost of illness analysis
| Autor: | Ebenezer Oduro-Mensah, Juliet Nabyonga-Orem, James Avoka Asamani, Hamza Ismaila, Virgil Kuassi Lokossou, Samuel Kaba Akoriyea |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Ghana Severity of Illness Index Health administration COVID-19 Testing Cost of Illness Overhead (business) Severity of illness medicine Humans Cost of COVID-19 Activity-based costing Pandemics Average cost Cost of illness analysis business.industry SARS-CoV-2 Costing Health Policy Public health Nursing research COVID-19 medicine.disease Case management of COVID-19 Cost driver Point of care resource use Medical emergency Bottom-up Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 business Research Article |
| Zdroj: | BMC Health Services Research BMC Health Services Research, Vol 21, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 1472-6963 |
| Popis: | Background As the global strategies to fight the SARS-COV-2 infection (COVID-19) evolved, response strategies impacted the magnitude and distribution of health-related expenditures. Although the economic consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been dire, and its true scale is yet to be ascertained, one key component of the response is the management of infected persons which its cost has not been adequately examined, especially in Africa. Methods To fill gaps in context-specific cost of treating COVID-19 patients, we adopted a health system’s perspective and a bottom-up, point of care resource use data collection approach to estimate the cost of clinical management of COVID-19 infection in Ghana. The analysis was based on the national protocol for management of COVID-19 patients at the time, whether in public or private settings. No patients were enrolled into the study as it was entirely a protocol-based cost of illness analysis. Result We found that resource use and average cost of treatment per COVID-19 case varied significantly by disease severity level and treatment setting. The average cost of treating COVID-19 patient in Ghana was estimated to be US$11,925 (GH¢68,929) from the perspective of the health system; ranging from US$282 (GH¢1629) for patients with mild/asymptomatic disease condition managed at home to about US$23,382 (GH¢135,149) for critically ill patients requiring sophisticated and specialised care in hospitals. The cost of treatment increased by some 20 folds once a patient moved from home management to the treatment centre. Overheard costs accounted for 63–71% of institutionalised care compared to only 6% for home-based care. The main cost drivers in overhead category in the institutionalised care were personal protective equipment (PPEs) and transportation, whilst investigations (COVID-19 testing) and staff time for follow-up were the main cost drivers for home-based care. Conclusion Cost savings could be made by early detection and effective treatment of COVID-19 cases, preferably at home, before any chance of deterioration to the next worst form of the disease state, thereby freeing up more resources for other aspects of the fight against the pandemic. Policy makers in Ghana should thus make it a top priority to intensify the early detection and case management of COVID-19 infections. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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