Estimation of health-care costs for work-related injuries in the Mexican Institute of Social Security.
BACKGROUND
Data on the economic consequences of occupational injuries is scarce in developing countries which prevents the recognition of their economic and social consequences. This study assess the direct heath care costs of work-related accidents in the Mexican Institute of Social Security, the largest health care institution in Latin America, which covered 12,735,856 workers and their families in 2005.


METHODS
We estimated the cost of treatment for 295,594 officially reported occupational injuries nation wide. A group of medical experts devised treatment algorithms to quantify resource utilization for occupational injuries to which unit costs were applied. Total costs were estimated as the product of the cost per illness and the severity weighted incidence of occupational accidents.


RESULTS
Occupational injury rate was 2.9 per 100 workers. Average medical care cost per case was $2,059 USD. The total cost of the health care of officially recognized injured workers was $753,420,222 USD. If injury rate is corrected for underreporting, the cost for formal injured workers is 791,216,460. If the same costs are applied for informal workers, approximately half of the working population in Mexico, the cost of healthcare for occupational injuries is about 1% of the gross domestic product.


CONCLUSIONS
Health care costs of occupational accidents are similar to the economic direct expenditures to compensate death and disability in the social security system in Mexico. However, indirect costs might be as important as direct costs.
Carlos-Rivera
Fernando
F
RAC Salud Consultores, Mexico City, Mexico.
Aguilar-Madrid
Guadalupe
G
Gómez-Montenegro
Pablo Anaya
PA
Juárez-Pérez
Cuauhtémoc A
CA
Sánchez-Román
Francisco Raúl
FR
Durcudoy Montandon
Jaqueline E A
JE
Borja-Aburto
Víctor Hugo
VH
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012943:Social Security / Q000191:economics*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology