Abstract
The purpose of this study was to estimate the cost of outpatient care for older patients with a primary diagnosis of hypertension, heart attack, and stroke at community hospitals in Thailand. This cross-sectional study used cost information in 2014 from four community hospitals. The hospital cost information consisted of service data, hospital statistics, and financial reports. We used the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), the 10th revision coding system to identify hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. Traditional cost and the cost to charge ratio methods were used to estimate average cost per visit and cost per person-year. Inflation rate was used to report the average cost in 2021. Overall, the major costs were for labor (53%), followed by material (42%), and capital (6%). The unit cost per visit for older outpatients in 2014 was between 447-688 THB for hypertension (531-817 THB in 2021), 634-1,171 THB for heart attack (753-1,392 THB in 2021), and 611-1,238 THB for stroke (726-1,470 THB in 2021). Our cost analysis used actual cost data, which provided useful information for budgetary planning and management for outpatient care among older adults with a primary diagnosis of hypertension, heart attack, and stroke.
