Sun Yat-sen University Reports Findings in Myocardial Ischemia (Direct medical costs of ischemic heart disease in urban Southern China: a 5-year retrospective analysis of an all-payer health claims database in Guangzhou City): Heart Disorders and Diseases – Myocardial Ischemia

2023 JUN 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Heart Disorders and Diseases - Myocardial Ischemia is the subject of a report. According to news originating from Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “This study aimed to estimate the direct medical costs and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses associated with inpatient and outpatient care for IHD, based on types of health insurance. Additionally, we sought to identify time trends and factors associated with these costs using an all-payer health claims database among urban patients with IHD in Guangzhou City, Southern China.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Sun Yat-sen University, “Data were collected from the Urban Employee-based Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) and the Urban Resident-based Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) administrative claims databases in Guangzhou City from 2008 to 2012. Direct medical costs were estimated in the entire sample and by types of insurance separately. Extended Estimating Equations models were employed to identify the potential factors associated with the direct medical costs including inpatient and outpatient care and OOP expenses. The total sample included 58,357 patients with IHD. The average direct medical costs per patient were Chinese Yuan (CNY) 27,136.4 [US dollar (USD) 4,298.8] in 2012. The treatment and surgery fees were the largest contributor to direct medical costs (52.0%). The average direct medical costs of IHD patients insured by UEBMI were significantly higher than those insured by the URBMI [CNY 27,749.0 (USD 4,395.9) vs. CNY 21,057.7(USD 3,335.9), < 0.05]. The direct medical costs and OOP expenses for all patients increased from 2008 to 2009, and then decreased during the period of 2009-2012. The time trends of direct medical costs between the UEBMI and URBMI patients were different during the period of 2008-2012. The regression analysis indicated that the UEBMI enrollees had higher direct medical costs (< 0.001) but had lower OOP expenses (< 0.001) than the URBMI enrollees. Male patients, patients having percutaneous coronary intervention operation and intensive care unit admission, patients treated in secondary hospitals and tertiary hospitals, patients with the LOS of 15-30 days, 30 days and longer had significantly higher direct medical costs and OOP expenses (all < 0.001). The direct medical costs and OOP expenses for patients with IHD in China were found to be high and varied between two medical insurance schemes.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The type of insurance was significantly associated with direct medical costs and OOP expenses of IHD.”

For more information on this research see: Direct medical costs of ischemic heart disease in urban Southern China: a 5-year retrospective analysis of an all-payer health claims database in Guangzhou City. Frontiers in Public Health, 2023;11:1146914. Frontiers in Public Health can be contacted at: Frontiers Media Sa, Avenue Du Tribunal Federal 34, Lausanne, Ch-1015, Switzerland.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Xuezhu Li, Dept. of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Peixuan Xie, Feifan Guo, Donglan Zhang and Hui Zhang.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1146914. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher’s contact information for the journal Frontiers in Public Health is: Frontiers Media Sa, Avenue Du Tribunal Federal 34, Lausanne, Ch-1015, Switzerland.

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