Cost Of Illness: From 2 Different Sources
The personal cost of acute or chronic disease. The cost to the patient may be an economic, social or psychological cost or loss to himself, his family or community. The cost of illness may be reflected in absenteeism, productivity, response to treatment, peace of mind, quality of life, etc. It differs from health care costs in that this concept is restricted to the cost of providing services related to the delivery of health care, rather than the impact on the personal life of the patient. See “burden of disease”.
Traditionally, doctors have been trained to treat a patient on the basis of his or her personal clinical needs. Increasingly, however, the practice of medicine has been in?uenced by patients’ social circumstances and more recently by community-and government-driven national priorities. One critical aspect of these widening in?uences has been the cost of medical care which, as medicine becomes more complex, has been rising sharply. Thus health economics has become an integral part of the provision of health care. Cost-of-illness studies now appear commonly in medical publications. Such studies aim to identify and measure all the costs of a particular disease, including, where feasible, the direct, indirect and intangible dimensions. The information obtained is intended to help the development of health policies, nationally and internationally. The application of information from such studies is, however, proving controversial. Firstly, doctors still see their clinical responsibilities to patients as a priority. Secondly, cost-of-care studies are often criticised for excluding broader economic aspects of health care – for example, analyses of the cost-e?ectiveness of prevention as well as the treatment of illness. This requires assessment of potential and actual outcomes as well as the costs of illnesses. Even so, the increasing complexity of medicine, with its commensurately rising costs affecting both state- and privately funded medical care, makes it inevitable that the cost of maintaining a population’s good health will be a growing factor in the provision of health care that seems bound to impinge on how doctors are enabled to treat their individual patients.
All forms of illness in which psychological, emotional or behavioural disturbances are the dominating feature. The term is relative and variable in different cultures, schools of thought and definitions. It includes a wide range of types and severities.... mental illness
A person’s own perceptions, experience and evaluation of a disease or condition, or how he or she feels. For example, an individual may feel pain, discomfort, weakness, depression or anxiety, but a disease may or may not be present.... illness
Also known as caisson disease, this affects workers operating in compressed-air environments, such as underwater divers and workers in caissons (such as an ammunition wagon, a chest of explosive materials, or a strong case for keeping out the water while the foundations of a bridge are being built; derived from the French caisse, meaning case or chest). Its chief symptoms are pains in the joints and limbs (bends); pain in the stomach; headache and dizziness; and paralysis. Sudden death may occur. The condition is caused by the accumulation of bubbles of nitrogen in di?erent parts of the body, usually because of too-rapid decompression when the worker returns to normal atmospheric presure – a change that must be made gradually.... compressed air illness
Actual expenses incurred to provide a health care product or service. Cost can be divided into a number of types including: average cost: The average cost per unit; equals the total cost divided by the units of production. avoided cost: Cost caused by a health problem that is avoided by a health care intervention. direct cost: Cost borne by the health care system, the community and families, e.g. diagnosis and treatment costs. A cost that is identifiable directly with a particular activity, service or product. fixed cost: Costs that, within a defined period, do not vary with the quantity produced, e.g. overhead costs of maintaining a building. incremental cost: The difference between marginal costs of alternative interventions. indirect cost: Cost which cannot be identified directly with a particular activity, service or product of the programme experiencing the cost. Indirect costs are usually apportioned among the programme’s services in proportion to each service’s share of direct costs. intangible cost: The cost of pain and suffering resulting from a disease, condition or intervention. marginal cost: The additional cost required to produce an additional unit of benefit (e.g. unit of health outcome). operating cost: In the health field, the financial requirements necessary to operate an activity that provides health services. These costs normally include costs of personnel, materials, overheads, depreciation and interest. opportunity cost: The benefit foregone, or value of opportunities lost, by engaging resources in a service. It is usually quantified by considering the benefit that would accrue by investing the same resources in the best alternative manner. recurrent cost: An item of expenditure that recurs year after year, such as the remuneration of health workers and other staff; the cost of food and other goods and services; the cost of vaccines, medicines, appliances and other supplies; the replacement of equipment; and the maintenance of buildings and equipment. tangible cost: Objective elements in the production of care, i.e. number of personnel, beds, consumables, technologies, staff qualifications. total cost: The sum of all costs incurred in producing a set quantity of service.... cost
The systematic comparison, in monetary terms, of all the costs and benefits of proposed alternative schemes with a view to determining: which scheme or combination of schemes will contribute most to the achievement of predetermined objectives at a fixed level of investment; or the magnitude of the benefit that can result from schemes requiring the minimum investment. The resources required per unit of benefit must be determined, account being taken of the fact that costs and benefits accrue with time. For example, the cost of establishing a home and community care programme might be compared with the total cost of building residential facilities. Cost-benefit analysis can also be applied to specific medical tests and treatments.... cost-benefit analysis
A disease which is characterized by a single or repeated episode of relatively rapid onset and short duration from which the patient usually returns to his/her normal or previous state or level of activity. An acute episode of a chronic disease (for example, an episode of diabetic coma in a patient with diabetes) is often treated as an acute disease.... acute disease / illness
See “cost”.... average cost
See “cost”.... avoided cost
An accounting device whereby all related costs attributable to some “financial centre” within an organization, such as a department, centre or programme, are segregated for accounting or reimbursement purposes.... cost centre
A set of steps to control or reduce inefficiencies in the consumption, allocation or production of health care services which contribute to higher than necessary costs.... cost containment
A determination of the least costly among alternative interventions that are assumed to produce equivalent outcomes.... cost minimization analysis
A case which is more costly to treat compared with other persons in a particular diagnosis-related group. Outliers also refer to any unusual occurrence of cost, cases which skew average costs or unusual procedures.... cost outlier
Payment method whereby a person is required to pay some health costs in order to receive medical care. The general set of financing arrangements whereby the consumer must pay out-of-pocket to receive care, either at the time of initiating care or during the provision of health care services, or both. Cost sharing can also occur when an insured person pays a portion of the monthly premium for health care insurance.... cost sharing
Recouping the cost of providing uncompensated care by increasing revenues from some payers to offset losses and lower net payments from other payers.... cost shifting
The relationship between the cost of an activity and the benefit that accrues from it.... cost-benefit
A form of analysis that seeks to determine the costs and effectiveness of a health intervention compared with similar alternative interventions to determine the relative degree to which they will obtain the desired health outcome(s).... cost-effectiveness analysis
The extent to which financial resources are being used as well as possible.... cost-efficiency
A determination of the economic impact of a disease or health condition, including treatment costs.... cost-of-illness analysis
Increase to a monthly long-term disability benefit, usually after the first year of payments. May be a flat percentage (e.g. 3%) or tied to changes in inflation.... cost-of-living adjustment (cola)
An illness suffered by divers when diving too deep, or too long and characterised bynitrogen bubbles forming in the tissues of the body. This may cause a multitude of symptoms although joint pains are those most-commonly encountered. Confusion may be caused in divers that have suffered an Irukandji sting as the symptoms have some similarities. See also, cerebral gas embolism.... decompression illness (dci)
See “cost”.... direct cost
See MUNCHAUSEN’S SYNDROME.... fabricated and induced illness
See “cost”.... fixed cost
Negative effect resulting from a medical treatment.... iatrogenic illness (or injury)
See “cost”.... incremental cost
See “cost”.... indirect cost
The cost of pain and suffering resulting from a disease, condition or intervention.... intangible cost
See “cost”.... marginal cost
See “cost”.... operating cost
See “cost”.... opportunity cost
See “cost”.... recurrent cost
A risk prediction system to correlate the “seriousness” of a disease in a particular person with the statistically “expected” outcome.... severity of illness
An illness for which there is no known cure.... terminal illness
a US term for a health condition that severely affects an individual’s physical, mental, social, or economic wellbeing, lasts for an extended period of time, and (usually) requires very expensive treatment. In practice, the definition varies from government agency to agency and from employer to employer. The definition may focus specifically on the economic burden, the time lost from work, the seriousness of the condition, or a combination of these.... catastrophic illness
see hypochondria.... illness anxiety disorder
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