Medical care costs of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in Richmond, Va. A quantitative analysis

This study examines inpatient charges for 52 adult patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who had 102 admissions to the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, Richmond, from October 1983 through December 1986. Complete charge data were available for 81 hospitalizations; the mean charge per hospitalization was +13,830 (SD, +13,610), the average length of stay was 14.8 days (SD, 13.1 days), and the mean per diem charge was +1058 (SD, +802). For patients who received all their AIDS-related medical care at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, total lifetime hospital charges averaged +27,264, the mean number of hospital stays was 2.29, and the average length of stay was 12 days. The average length of hospital stay, total charges per hospitalization, and average charge per day of hospitalization decreased over the study period. These findings suggest that inpatient costs of treating individual patients with AIDS are less than initially estimated and are decreasing due to the ability to more effectively manage these patients.