Medical expenditure for strabismus: a hospital-based retrospective survey

Abstract

Background and aims The misconception of the purpose of strabismus treatment has, on the one hand, affected the motivation of strabismus patients to seek care and, on the other hand, has resulted in strabismus not being covered by health insurance, both of which interact to limit the motivation of strabismus patients and also impose a financial burden on strabismus patients. Previous studies on the cost of strabismus had only addressed the cost utility and functional and psychosocial benefits of strabismus surgery. The aim of this study was to estimate the direct medical expenditure incurred for strabismus surgery and analyze the trend for the period 2014–2019 using the data collected by local eye hospitals in northeast China. Methods This study was based on 6-year strabismus medical expenditure data collected from the eye hospital of the first affiliated hospital of Harbin medical university, covering 3596 strabismus patients who had strabismus surgery. All medical expenditure data were adjusted to 2014 using China’s annual consumer price index to remove the effects of inflation. Results The average direct medical expenditure for strabismus cares (in 2014) was 5309.6 CNY (US$870.4), and the annual growth rates from 2015 to 2019 (compared with the previous year) were 9.3, 7.7, 21.7, 14.5, and 4.3%, respectively. Surgical expenses accounted for the highest proportion (33.1%) of the total medical expenses followed by examinations expenses (19.7%) and medical consumables expenses (18.7%). The regression coefficient for general anaesthesia was 1804.5 and age was less than 0. Conclusion The average direct medical expenditure for strabismus increases year by year, and the growth rate is rapid. Anesthesia was the most important factor increasing medical cost, and age was negatively correlated with cost.

Impact of Vision Impairment and Ocular Morbidity and Their Treatment on Quality of Life in Children: A Systematic Review

“…66,68 Although surgery can improve affected children's QoL, the value of strabismus surgery usually is underestimated, and such operations often are regarded as cosmetic surgery, even by some ophthalmologists. 69 Moreover, strabismus surgery is not covered by health insurance in some countries with limited resources, such as China, 70 India, 71 and Vietnam, 72 possibly imposing a financial burden on affected people and limiting their motivation and ability to choose surgery.…”

Healthcare Cost Prediction Based on Hybrid Machine Learning Algorithms

“…Gong collected data on the healthcare expenditures of hemophiliacs from China's national insurance database from 2014 to 2016, compared the healthcare cost of employees and residents using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and finally speculated on the factors affecting the healthcare expenditures of hemophiliacs using quantile regression [8]. Yang [9] collected data on medical expenditures of strabismus patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, China and analyzed anesthesia as a major factor influencing medical expenditure of strabismus patients. Wang used Markov and two-part models to analyze healthcare expenditure for the elderly in China from 2011 to 2015 and make predictions about healthcare expenditures for the elderly in China from 2020 to 2060 [10].…”