Regional healthcare costs and burden of injury associated with electric scooters

Abstract

BackgroundThe introduction of shared electric scooters (e-scooters) to New Zealand has resulted in a large number of injuries. Within the past year, there have been studies addressing some of the impact of these e-scooter injuries, but none have included outpatient data or total regional costs. MethodsThis was a retrospective review of e-scooter associated injuries presenting to Auckland region healthcare providers in the seven months since their introduction using Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) Claims data. The type of injuries and key metrics of their overall hospital burden were assessed between September 2018 and April 2019. The financial cost of these injuries was also estimated. ResultsA total of 770 patient presentations associated with e-scooters were identified during the study period. Of these, 524 (68.1%) were treated in the community by primary care physicians and 246 (31.9%) were treated in Auckland hospitals. The 246 hospital presentations used a total of 5,569 hospital bed-hours with 75 patients (30.5%) requiring admission and inpatient care. Of the hospital presentations, 49 patients (19.9%) required at least one operation, and 105 (42.7%) required specialist follow up care. 26.8% of injuries were thought to be associated with alcohol use. The estimated injury rate was 60 per 100,000 trips and hospital presentation rate was 20 per 100,000 trips. The combined cost attributable to these injuries was $608,843 (NZD) for Auckland City Hospital and $1,303,155 for the whole Auckland region. ConclusionsThe overall burden of care due to the introduction of e-scooters to New Zealand has had significant impact both on the primary urban trauma center as well as community care facilities. E-scooter related injuries have had a large impact on regional healthcare costs.