Costs
dysphagia
DYSPHAGIA, RECRUITMENT
(1) Medical Costs. Monthly costs for medical care were derived from Medical billing and logging and pharmacy costs. Information regarding Medicare enumerate the received medical services along with their corresponding expenses, encompassing both reimbursements made by Medicare and out-of-pocket payments borne by the patient. Pharmacy costs were mainly for the use of thickeners in patients with dysphagia. The frequency of thickener use was calculated based on a daily requirement of 9 g. After checking the pharmacy and consulting the drug that the thickening agent is priced at 10 yuan per package, which contains 3 g each. By multiplying the daily dose by the unit price, an estimate of the total cost during hospital stay can be obtained. (2) Nonmedical Costs. Nonmedical costs were estimated on the basis of costs associated with the time spent by caregivers, the time spent by the patient, and trip cost, Volunteer-related costs are also included. The cost of the time patients spent receiving treatment was estimated on the basis of the 1.5 hours spent per day receiving treatment in the hospital or community. The number of caregiver staff hours worked per day was estimated by multiplying the number of hours spent by patients by 1.2. Travel costs were estimated on the basis of the number of miles traveled from the patient’s home to community rehabilitation centers. The cost of volunteer labor was calculated at 20yuan per person per hour for the services provided by treatment volunteers to the patients. The cost of volunteer time was calculated based on the treatment time, which amounted to 3 hours per day. The cost of training and materials encompassed expenses associated with providing rehabilitation treatment-related training to volunteers, including the procurement of instructional resources, remuneration for trainers, and acquisition of low-value consumables. Administrative costs include expenses related to the recruitment, training, scheduling, supervision, and evaluation of volunteers.