Medico-economic analysis of inpatients for abuse and alcohol dependence

Abstract

Introduction: In 2013, the Public Health institute published that more than 14% of Belgian people drink alcohol every day. This excessive consumption represents aswell health care, legal and economic costs. For Belgium, in 2013, this cost represents 4.2 billion euros. The objectives of this study are (1) to analyze the cost and length of stay for inpatients hospitalize for alcohol abuse and dependence of APR-DRG 775, (2) to analyze the homogeneity of the cost and the length of stay (LOS) in the APR-DRG; (3) to isolate the factors influencing the cost and length of stay. Methodology: The sample concern 1.126 stays. This inpatient stays hospitalized in 2012 in 12 Belgian hospitals. Variables studied come from a medical and administrative database and secondly from the PACHA database (cost per stay and per DRG). The cost is evaluated from the perspective of the hospital. Results: The median cost of 1.126 patients is € 1.572,50. The median LOS was 3,59 days. The coefficient of variation per severity index varies highly (it varies from 0,98 to 2,05). Two groups of patients differ greatly: patients addicted to alcohol and alcohol dependent patients. Conclusion: The results of this study seem to confirm that psychiatric stays are heterogeneous, though a similar study on a larger scale would be needed to validate the results.