Health care costs of occupational disease: analysis of a patient series at a public hospital

Abstract

The consistent under-recognition of occupational diseases (OD) in Spain leads to an exchange of patients and resources between the country's National Health System and the Social Security System. We examined the direct healthcare costs of a series of patients diagnosed with OD by the Clinical Occupational Diseases Unit in a Barcelona hospital. Information on all care associated with the diagnosis of PD was systematically reviewed. The economic value of each episode of care was obtained from the hospital cost accounting and billing system. Overall, we computed costs for 524 episodes in 33 patients. The average cost was 345.5€, being highest for hospital admissions (4,032.5€). The average cost per patient was € 5,486.2, and for cancer € 15,223.3. These results highlight the need for coordination between the National Health System and the Social Security System so that OD can be appropriately recognized.