The economic burden of informal care.
OBJECTIVE
The great interest focused on home care technologies during the last decade resulted from its potential to cut costs. However, the reallocation of costs between healthcare providers and social welfare providers, and the indirect costs of informal care, are not as frequent topics of discussion. The aim of this paper is to discuss different models for estimating the costs of informal care in the home care setting in economic appraisals.


METHODS
The outcome of using different models for estimating indirect costs was illustrated using empirical data regarding the time spent by informal caregivers in providing care in a group of home care patients (n = 59). The models used comprise different interpretations of the traditional human capital approach and the friction cost model.


CONCLUSIONS
Informal care is an important component in home care. The inclusion of indirect costs of informal care in economic appraisals will have implications for the cost-effectiveness of home care, since it will raise costs depending on the model used for estimating indirect costs. In this study we have shown that indirect costs estimated by the friction cost model only amount to 18% to 44% of the cost when the human capital approach is used. The results indicate that, regardless of the method used to estimate indirect costs, the cost of informal care in evaluations of home care programs is often underestimated due to the exclusion of indirect costs.
Andersson
Agneta
A
Linköping University.
Levin
Lars-Ake
LA
Emtinger
Bengt Göran
BG
D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000191:economics*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D013548:Sweden; D013996:Time and Motion Studies