       Document 0345
 DOCN  M9630345
 TI    A method for estimating baseline health care costs.
 DT    9603
 AU    Hurley SF; Bond LM; Carlin JB; Evans DB; Kaldor JM; Department of Public
       Health and Community Medicine, University of; Melbourne, Carlton,
       Victoria, Australia.
 SO    J Epidemiol Community Health. 1995 Oct;49(5):525-31. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE MED/96103669
 AB    STUDY OBJECTIVES--Studies estimating the cost of specific illnesses do
       not generally take into account the fact that health care costs would
       have been incurred in the absence of the disease of interest. The goal
       of this study was to develop a method of estimating age specific
       baseline health care costs. These costs were calculated for Australian
       men, and their magnitude was compared with the costs of caring for men
       with HIV infection. DESIGN--Information about health service usage was
       obtained from the 1989-90 national health survey and linked with data on
       the costs of services to obtain average monthly costs for individual and
       total health services. SETTING--The Australian community.
       PARTICIPANTS--Average total health service costs per man per month were
       $103 (Australian). Hospital admissions comprised approximately 40% of
       these costs and casualty/outpatient visits, consultations with a doctor,
       and prescribed medication comprised 10%, 13%, and 12%, respectively.
       Costs increased with age, from around $60 per month for men aged 20-39
       years to $213 per month for men aged 60 and over. CONCLUSION--Baseline
       costs comprised around 18% of health care costs for men with
       asymptomatic HIV infection, but less than 1% of costs for men with AIDS.
       These estimates provide an essential baseline for determining the costs
       attributable to specific diseases.
 DE    Adult  Age Distribution  Australia  Health Care Costs/*STATISTICS &
       NUMER DATA  Health Services/*UTILIZATION  Human  Length of
       Stay/STATISTICS & NUMER DATA  Male  Middle Age  Patient
       Admission/STATISTICS & NUMER DATA  Referral and Consultation/STATISTICS
       & NUMER DATA  Sensitivity and Specificity  Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
       JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

