The Use of Casemix System to Estimate Providers` Inpatients’ Cost of Influenza Related Sari Diseases in Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction: Influenza is an upper respiratory infection is caused by the influenza virus. It occurs throughout the whole year in Malaysia with occasional outbreaks. Influenza-like illnesses (ILI) are generally treated as outpatient care while the more severe ‘SARI’ is managed in patient care. The Casemix system, used in healthcare professionals' practices, may help in estimating the cost of influenza management. Methods: This cross-sectional study extracts the cost of influenza management from different public hospitals in years 2016, 2017 and 2018. Data used selected ICD-10 codes, and the cost was abstracted from Malaysian Diagnostic Related Groups (MyDRG) software. The secondary data are from 2 sources, an urban teaching hospital Hospital Cancellor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM) and Ministry of Health (MoH) inpatient hospitals database. The sample size of the study was 586, while a structured datasheet collating patients’ sociodemographic data and cost of admission, per case, was obtained from the MyDRG software. Microsoft Excel and SPSS software were used in the analysis. Results: Most influenza cases (61.8%) are between the ages of 0 and 10, Malays, and have similar gender proportions. Overall, the influenza treatment cost for inpatient care, totalled to RM 294,017,112. In 2018, the GDP for health consumed 3.76% of Malaysia's GDP income of RM 1.4 trillion, with an estimated RM 60,339 million used for health. Thus, the three-year public cost consumed 0.5% of 2018 GDP. Conclusion: Influenza screening at the primary healthcare setting, health education and treatment compliance should be scale-up to minimize the cost of influenza management of the public providers.