Economic impact of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria outbreaks on Japanese hospitals

Abstract

Economic evaluation from the perspective of hospitals is important for the optimization of resources for infection control measures. We considered outbreaks that occurred from 2006 to 2016 in Japan. Cost identification analyses were conducted using data from 23 outbreaks by antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Linear and multivariable regression analyses were conducted to explore the association between potential factors and main outcomes. The potential factors included duration of the outbreaks, duration of bed blocking, timely public announcement, delay of external consultation, and number of patients at the time of external consultation. The largest productivity loss was 4.62 million USD. The maximum total cost for containment was 678,000 USD. After considering the overall interactions, timely public announcement was significantly associated with productivity loss (adjusted estimate of coefficient: 1.24 USD, 95% confidence interval [CI] 179,000 to 2.31 million USD, P= .02), and the number of patients at external consultation was significantly associated with containment costs (3 430 USD, 630 to 6 240 USD, P= .02). The costs of healthcare-associated infection outbreaks of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria can be significant. The productivity loss was much greater than the containment costs. Therefore, hospitals should meet the costs for prevention of these outbreaks.