Cost-effectiveness analysis of the Alerts study
Acronym: Cost-Alerts
Principal Investigator: Steffen Heublein
Scientific Advisor: Michael Hartmann
Research Area: F Public Health
Project Number: F2.1
Duration: 01.08.2010 - 31.07.2015
Module: PhD Fellowship
The Problem
Embedded in the Alerts study, the project aims at examining the cost-effectiveness of preventive means against nosocomial infections at Jena University Hospital. To do so, Cost-Alerts assesses the previously unknown financial burden of nosocomial infections upon Jena University Hospital and calculates their cost-effectiveness after implementation.
Results so far
The focus of Cost-Alerts so far was placed on the development and testing of a model that allows us to calculate the burden of nosocomial infections at University Hospital Jena and which utilizes the additional length of stay and the costs of stay per day. To calculate the additional length of stay we employ a multistate markov model. This model prevents the bias that is introduced by the most methods that have been used so far. The data required to run this model is synthesized by combining infection data collected by the Alerts study and routine data collected from every patient on admission. To develop algorithms for data synthesis and for testing the model we used preliminary data.
The average costs of stay per day are based upon the diagnosis related group of each patient. Dividing the costs of care in each diagnosis related group by its average length of stay yields us the average costs of stay per day of each patient in this group. Finally, multiplying this result with the patient’s additional length of stay gives us the burden of nosocomial infections of this patient.
Furthermore, we conducted literature reviews on costs of sepsis and cost-effective means for preventing nosocomial infections and presented a poster on direct costs of severe sepsis.