The Financial Impact of Post Intensive Care Syndrome

This review explores the financial consequences that survivors of critical illness often face following hospitalization in an intensive care unit (ICU). As part of the "post-intensive care syndrome" (PICS), these survivors often experience, in addition to physical and emotional challenges of PICS, major financial burdens resulting from their prolonged ICU treatments. The escalating costs of ICU care, coupled with the potential long-term effects on survivors' ability to work and maintain financial stability, have brought financial toxicity to the forefront of health care discussions. The current review examines the causes and consequences of financial toxicity.