NDLI: The economic burden of nosocomial infections for hospitals: evidence from Germany

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Asegu, Lulseged M. Kitschen, Anne Neuwirth, Meike M. Sauerland, Dirk
Abstract	Background Nosocomial infections (NI) significantly worsen patient outcomes, resulting in higher mortality rates and reduced health-related quality of life. Furthermore, they pose substantial economic strain on healthcare systems and hospitals. For instance, patients with nosocomial infections (NIs) experience prolonged hospital stays compared to those without NIs. These extended stays result in occupied bed-days, leading to opportunity costs for hospitals. This study aimed to estimate the opportunity costs for a German hospital based on hospital stays, daily revenue, and occupancy rates (OCR). Methods We analysed cost data obtained from routine records maintained by the accounting department of a German hospital's surgical and orthopedic units from 2018 to 2019 for the “HygArzt” research project. To ensure balance, we employed genetic matching. We estimated the differences in length of stay (LOS) and daily revenue between patients with and without nosocomial infections (NI) using linear regression. Finally, we calculated the opportunity cost borne by the hospital by treating NI patients instead of non-NI patients. All costs are reported in 2018 Euros. Results The final sample included 81 patients with NI matched with 207 patients without NI. The majority of the NI patients (77.0%) had surgical site infection (SSI). Compared to non-NI patients, we observed that NI patients had a longer LOS (10 days, p < 0.001) and lower daily revenue (€400, p < 0.001). We also found that comorbidities and the frequency of operations had significant impact on the LOS. Using a baseline 30 to 50% preventable NIs, successful prevention of a single NI could potentially reduce the length of hospital stay by 3 to 5 days and increase hospital revenue by approximately €120 to €200 per day per prevented NI. Consequently, the hospital saves 3 to 5 more bed-days to backfill and generate more revenue, and/or make more efficient resource allocation by changing bed-capacity and staffing. The resulting opportunity costs can potentially exceed €1,000 per preventable case. Conclusion NIs pose a substantial economic burden for hospitals. From a health economics’ perspective, there are strong economic incentives for hospitals to implement infection control interventions, such as the involvement of a prevention link physician/nurse.
Related Links	https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12879-024-10176-8.pdf
Ending Page	9
Page Count	9
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	14712334
DOI	10.1186/s12879-024-10176-8
Journal	BMC Infectious Diseases
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	24
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2024-11-13
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Infectious Diseases Parasitology Medical Microbiology Tropical Medicine Internal Medicine Nosocomial Infection Opportunity Costs Economic Burden Hospitals Genetic Matching
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Infectious Diseases
Journal Impact Factor	3.4/2023
5-Year Journal Impact Factor	3.3/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in Germany: a systematic review

Nosocomial infections in an Iranian educational hospital: an evaluation study of the Iranian nosocomial infection surveillance system

The burden of nosocomial staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection in South Korea: a prospective hospital-based nationwide study

Daily antibiotic cost of nosocomial infections in a Turkish university hospital

Surgical site infections in Italian Hospitals: a prospective multicenter study

Nosocomial bloodstream infection and the emerging carbapenem-resistant pathogen Ralstonia insidiosa

Epidemiological and clinical burden of Clostridioides difficile infections and recurrences between 2015 − 2019: the RECUR Germany study

Changes in prevalence of nosocomial infection pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic from a tertiary Hospital in China

Nosocomial infections in the surgical intensive care unit: an observational retrospective study from a large tertiary hospital in Palestine

The economic burden of nosocomial infections for hospitals: evidence from Germany

Similar Documents

Burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in Germany: a systematic review

Nosocomial infections in an Iranian educational hospital: an evaluation study of the Iranian nosocomial infection surveillance system

The burden of nosocomial staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection in South Korea: a prospective hospital-based nationwide study

Daily antibiotic cost of nosocomial infections in a Turkish university hospital

Surgical site infections in Italian Hospitals: a prospective multicenter study

Nosocomial bloodstream infection and the emerging carbapenem-resistant pathogen Ralstonia insidiosa

Epidemiological and clinical burden of Clostridioides difficile infections and recurrences between 2015 − 2019: the RECUR Germany study

Changes in prevalence of nosocomial infection pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic from a tertiary Hospital in China

Nosocomial infections in the surgical intensive care unit: an observational retrospective study from a large tertiary hospital in Palestine

The economic burden of nosocomial infections for hospitals: evidence from Germany