Costs of neonatal care for low-birthweight babies in English hospitals.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate mean costs of neonatal care for babies with birthweights <or=1800 g in a regional Level 3 unit and three Level 2 units providing short-term intensive care.


METHODS
Babies <or=1800 g admitted to units in four hospitals in England over 15 months in 2001-2002 were audited until discharge. Unit costs (2005-2006 prices) were attributed to their resource items, including neonatal cot occupancy, pharmaceuticals, blood products and ambulance transfers. Bootstrapped mean costs were derived for the Level 3 unit and the Level 2 units combined.


RESULTS
The mean gestation period for 199 Level 3 babies was 29.5 weeks compared with 30.4 weeks for 192 Level 2 babies (p = 0.003). Mean costs excluding ambulance journeys were pound17,861 per Level 3 baby and pound12,344 per Level 2 baby. Level 3 babies <1000 g averaged pound26,815, whereas Level 2 babies <1000 g were generally less costly than babies 1000-1499 g. Ambulances transported 76 Level 3 babies and 62 Level 2 babies; their adjusted mean costs were pound18,495 and pound12,881, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
By comprehensively costing resource components, the magnitude of total costs for low-birthweight babies has been revealed, thus demonstrating the importance of budgets for neonatal units being realistically determined by commissioners of neonatal services.
Mistry
Hema
H
Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK. hema.mistry@brunel.ac.uk
Dowie
Robin
R
Franklin
Rodney C G
RC
Jani
Bhavdeep R
BR
D000552:Ambulances / Q000191:economics; D001509:Bed Occupancy; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004469:Economics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal / Q000191:economics*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000191:economics; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012041:Regional Medical Programs / Q000191:economics*