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Healthcare costs and productivity losses associated with county‐based home‐care service for sick children in Sweden
Author(s) -
Castor Charlotte,
Bolin Kristian,
Hansson Helena,
Landgren Kajsa,
Kristensson Hallström Inger
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of caring sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1471-6712
pISSN - 0283-9318
DOI - 10.1111/scs.12815
Subject(s) - absenteeism , productivity , health care , sick leave , medicine , observational study , descriptive statistics , family medicine , environmental health , nursing , psychology , economics , social psychology , statistics , physical therapy , mathematics , pathology , macroeconomics , economic growth
Aims The aim of this study was to estimate the healthcare costs and productivity losses associated with county‐based home‐care services (HCS) for sick children. Methods In this observational follow‐up study, a combination of hospital care and HCS was compared to estimated alternative care solely at the hospital. Data on one year of healthcare utilisation for 32 children, supplied by the hospital and HCS, were collected from administrative systems. Corresponding healthcare unit prices were collected from healthcare pricelists. The human‐capital approach was applied to estimate productivity losses and the value of productivity losses for 25 parents. Family characteristics, including parental work absenteeism and income, were collected by a questionnaire distributed to parents at five time points during a year. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used for analysis and carried out with ethical approval. Results Healthcare costs for children receiving a combination of hospital care and HCS varied among children with estimated average healthcare cost savings of SEK 50 101 per child compared to the alternative of care provided only in the hospital. The reduced costs were related to children receiving nonpalliative HCS care tasks. Average annual productivity losses due to parental work absenteeism were estimated at 348 hours with an associated monetary value estimated at SEK 137 524 per parent. Conclusion County‐based HCS, provided as complement to and substitute for hospital care for ill children, does not increase healthcare cost and should be a prioritized area when organising paediatric health care. Productivity losses vary greatly among parents and are pronounced also when children receive HCS with signs of gender‐related differences.