A multi-center survey of hospital charges for hemophilia and the related diseases in Japan

Abstract

We estimated the hospital charges for the patients with hemophilia in eight institutions enlisted in this study, and discussed the characteristic features and points at issue regarding the comprehensive costing system using the Diagnosis Procedure Combination(DPC), when adopted. We calculated the total days of hospital admission and total charges based on the data supplied from the institutions during the period between April 2002 and March 2004. We analyzed various factors such as types of disease, patient’s body weight, the presence or absence of inhibitors and whether or not the patients had been treated surgically.
The total days of hospital admission and the mean hospital charges per day(MHCD) varied among the institutions ranging from 124,110 yen to 220,080 yen, and the MHCD appeared to increase in accordance with the patient’s body weight and the titer of inhibitors as well. Therefore, the comprehensive costing system using DPC would not be beneficial to the institutions, and its adoption appears to be difficult at this stage of investigation.