Costs estimation
hernia
MAY
The direct medical costs of hernia treatment are described from the Institute’s
perspective. A mixed methodology of micro-costing and apportionment of the
macro-costing was used. The estimate for daily costs related to hospitalization
and surgery (OR time, medical and multidisciplinary consultations, daily charges
in hospital wards, intensive care units [ICUs], and ambulatory visits) were
valued by apportioning fixed and variable costs (of human resources, material
resources, and infrastructure) to assess the respective unit values of the
Institute health care service costs used. Drugs, medical devices, nutrition,
blood, laboratory, and imaging studies were valued by micro-costing calculation
according to individual patient consumption multiplied by the respective
acquisition cost. The OR time was measured from entry until the patient’s
departure from the OR, including the anesthesia and surgery. The mean cost of
laparoscopic ventral incisional hernia repair (LVIHR) and robotic ventral
incisional hernia repair (RVIHR) was calculated by averaging patient costs for
each group. Costs were expressed in the Brazilian currency (Real, R$). In May
2015, R$1.00=US$ 0.33.