Healthcare Utilization Among Infants Discharged From the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Descriptive Cost Analysis

Area of Science:

• Neonatal care
• Healthcare economics
• Health services research

Background:

• Readmission costs for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates are well-documented for longer periods but unknown within 90 days.
• Unplanned hospital visits post-NICU discharge represent a significant, yet understudied, financial burden.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the overall and mean healthcare costs associated with unplanned hospital visits for NICU graduates within 90 days of discharge.
• To differentiate costs between hospital readmissions and emergency department (ED) visits for this population.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of infants discharged from a large hospital system's NICUs between January 1, 2017, and March 31, 2017.
• Inclusion of all unplanned hospital visits (readmissions or stand-alone ED visits) within 90 days post-NICU discharge.
• Cost computation adjusted to 2021 US dollars.

Main Results:

• The total estimated cost for unplanned hospital visits within 90 days was $785,804, with a mean of $1898 per patient.
• Hospital readmissions constituted 98% of total costs ($768,718), while ED visits accounted for 2% ($17,086).
• Mean costs were $25,624 per readmission and $475 per ED visit, with extremely low birth weight infants incurring the highest readmission costs ($25,295).

Conclusions:

• Unplanned hospital visits, particularly readmissions, within 90 days of NICU discharge incur substantial healthcare costs.
• Targeted interventions to reduce NICU readmissions hold significant potential for healthcare cost savings.
• Further research into cost-effective strategies for preventing readmissions in NICU graduates is warranted.