title: Cost of outpatient care in patients with inflammatory bowel disease in a German University Hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Because of its long duration, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) causes high use of health services and high lifetime costs for medical care. The aim of the present study was to measure the costs of outpatient care in patients with IBD in a German University Hospital and to identify potentially relevant determinants of costs.
  
  
  METHODS
  The use of resources of 599 outpatient patients treated at a German University Hospital (65% Crohn's disease [CD] and 26% ulcerative colitis [UC]) was measured using a routine database. Costs of medical services (diagnostics and treatment) were considered as well as costs of medication. Resource use was valued using fee schedules for hospital services and pharmacy prices for drugs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean cost of one outpatient visit was Euros 162, including physician costs, laboratory costs, and costs of diagnostic procedures following the visit. For a subgroup of 272 patients, the mean annual cost for outpatient care was Euros 3171. Medication accounted for 85% of the total annual costs. Potential determinants, such as main diagnosis (CD or UC), sex, age, localization of disease, and occurrence of anemia, had no influence on costs, whereas complications of IBD and use of corticosteroids showed an impact on annual costs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first time that the structure and range of outpatient treatment costs for IBD have been demonstrated for a German hospital.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Economics, University of Ulm, Germany. margrit.ebinger@medizin.uni-ulm.de
authors.forename: Margrit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebinger
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leidl
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Von Tirpitz
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reinshagen
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: Hans-Helmut
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Konig
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics*; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies