Table 1.
Cost variables, resources used and average cost per patient for the control group and the intervention group for the period between the initial inpatient admission and 12 months following discharge (AUD$2012/13)
| Mean resource utilization per patient for the period between the initial inpatient admission and 12 months following discharge (SD; range) a | Mean cost per patient for the period between the initial inpatient admission and 12 months following discharge (SD; range) a $2012/13 | Difference between groups for resource utilization | Difference between groups for costs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intervention | Control | Intervention | Control | Intervention minus control (95% CI) | Intervention minus control (95% CI) | |
| (n = 496) | (n = 500) | (n = 496) | (n = 500) | |||
| Initial inpatient rehabilitation admission (length of stay) | 21.2 | 23.1 | 13,320 | 14,302 | −1.9 | −981 |
| (15.7; 4 to 144) | (20.2; 1 to 236) | (10,041; 2,652 to 93,095) | (12,168; 1,459 to 137,387) | (−4.1 to 0.4) | (−2,408 to 445) | |
| Hospital readmissions in primary health service (length of stay) | 10.3 | 15.2 | 10,283 | 13,122 | −4.9* | −2,838 |
| (24.5; 0 to 156) | (37.4; 0 to 260) | (24,105; 0 to 195,939) | (30,255; 0 to 212,390) | (−9.0 to −0.9) | (−6,340 to 664) | |
| Hospital readmissions in other health services (length of stay) | 2.4 | 2.9 | 2364 | 2829 | −0.6 | −465 |
| (12.6; 0 to 63) | (7.9; 0 to 175) | (8013; 0 to 67,095) | (12,146; 0 to 169,419) | (−1.9 to 0.8) | (−1,790 to 859) | |
| Total Medicare claims | 50.1 | 52.7 | 3,029 | 3,108 | −2.6 | −79 |
| (45.8; 0 to 282) | (58.4; 0 to 735) | (3,704; 0 to 30,129) | (4,369; 0 to 53,232) | (−9.3 to 4.2) | (−598 to 439) | |
| Benefit paid | 2,567 | 2,684 | −117 | |||
| (2,533; 0 to 17,643) | (3,037; 0 to 36,847) | (−469 to 235) | ||||
| Out-of-pocket | 462 | 424 | 38 | |||
| (1,409; 0 to 12,845) | (1,620; 0 to 18,647) | (−157 to 232) | ||||
| Total non-Medicare health care visits | 27.0 | 29.8 | 1,479 | 1,669 | −2.7 | −190 |
| (49.1; 0 to 375) | (58.8; 0 to 759) | (3,016; 0 to 29,534) | (4,174; 0 to 59,634) | (−9.6 to 4.1) | (−642 to 262) | |
| Physiotherapists | 13.8 | 14.1 | 670 | 685 | −0.3 | −15 |
| (26.4; 0 to 360) | (21.4; 0 to 224) | (1,281; 0 to 17,460) | (1,037; 0 to 10,864) | (−3.4 to 2.8) | (−164 to 134) | |
| Occupational therapists | 2.5 | 2.9 | 105 | 122 | −0.4 | −17 |
| (9.9; 0 to 94) | (10.2; 0 to 128) | (417; 0 to 3,975) | (433; 0 to 5,413) | (−1.7 to 0.9) | (−71 to 38) | |
| Other allied health | 4.6 | 4.7 | 217 | 223 | −0.1 | −6 |
| (15.0; 0 to 156) | (15.2; 0 to 169) | (701; 0 to 7,335) | (712; 0 to 7,946) | (−2.0 to 1.8) | (−96 to 84) | |
| Community nurse | 6.1 | 8.0 | 487 | 639 | −1.9 | −152 |
| (30.6; 0 to 364) | (48.6; 0 to 732) | (2,439; 0 to 29,007) | (3,869; 0 to 58,333) | (−4.6 to 0.7) | (−363 to 59) | |
| Total pharmaceuticals (PBS) claims | 55.9 | 61.1 | 2,368 | 2,558 | −5.2 | −190 |
| (42.5; 0 to 259) | (46.1; 0 to 279) | (2,749; 0 to 37,430) | (3,453; 0 to 48,717) | (−10.9 to 0.5) | (−568 to 189) | |
| Benefit paid | 2,074 | 2,256 | −182 | |||
| (2,678; 0 to 37,183) | (3,388; 0 to 48,093) | (−564 to 200) | ||||
| Out-of-pocket | 294 | 302 | −8 | |||
| (212; 0 to 1,411) | (196; 0 to 1,314) | (−34 to 18) | ||||
| Over-the-counter medications | 3.0 | 3.0 | 81 | 72 | 0.04 | 9 |
| (2.8; 0 to 16) | (2.9; 0 to 15) | (152; 0 to 2,084) | (105; 0 to 999) | (−0.3 to 0.4) | (−8 to 26) | |
| Formal (paid) carers (hours) | 22.3 | 21.6 | 764 | 740 | 0.7 | 24 |
| (58.5; 0 to 494) | (52.0; 0 to 408) | (2,002; 0 to 16,915) | (1,781; 0 to 13,970) | (−6.3 to 7.7) | (−217 to 265) | |
| Informal (unpaid) carers (hours) | 822.7 | 869.8 | 28,170 | 29,784 | −47.1 | −1,614 |
| (2,025; 0 to 9,906) | (52.0; 0 to 11,232) | (69,351; 0 to 339,181) | (69,902; 0 to 384,584) | (−180 to 86) | (−6,160 to 2,933) | |
| Total | 61,859 | 68,184 | −6,325 | |||
| (79,798; 4,845 to 463,656) | (82,922; 4,845 to 463,656) | (−16,730 to 4,081) | ||||
| t-test p = 0.234 | ||||||
| MWU p = 0.056 | ||||||
Sources of price information: hospital admissions in primary health service: variable cost; hospital admissions in other health services; acute hospital $1,065/night, rehabilitation hospital $751/night; Medicare claims: variable; physiotherapy: $48.50/visit b; occupational therapy: $42.29/visit bspeech therapy: $46.59/visit bother allied health: $47.02/visit bcommunity nurse: $79.69/visit bPharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) claims: variable; over-the-counter medications: variable; formal and informal carers: $34.24/hourb.
*p ≤ 0.05. adeath weights have been applied to this data set to represent time in the study pertaining to patient death. bTAC [13]. MWU, Mann–Whitney U test.