The direct cost of care among surgical inpatients at a tertiary hospital in south west Nigeria

Introduction: This study was conducted to assess the direct cost of care and its determinants among surgical inpatients at university College Hospital, Ibadan. Methods: A retrospective review of records of 404 inpatients that had surgery from January to December, 2010 was conducted. Information was  extracted on socio-demographic variables, investigations, drugs, length of stay (LOS)and cost of  carewith a semi-structured proforma. Mean cost of care were compared using t-test and Analysis of  variance (ANOVA). Linear regression analysis was used to identify determinants of cost of care. Level of significance of 5% was used. In year 2010 $1 was equivalent to 150 naira ($1=₦ 150).Results: The median age of patients was 30 years with inter-quartile range of 13-42 years. Males were  257(63. 6%). The mean overall cost of care was ₦66,983 ± ₦31,985. Cost of surgery is about 50% of total cost of care. Patient first seen at the Accident and Emergency had a significantly higher mean cost of care of ß = ₦17,207(95% CI: ₦4,003 to ₦30,410). Neuro Surgery (ß=₦36,210), and Orthopaedic Surgery versus General Surgery(ß=₦10,258),and Blood transfusion (ß=₦18,493) all contributed to cost of care significantly. Increase of one day in LOS significantly increased cost of care by ₦2,372. 57. Conclusion: The evidence evaluated here shows that costs and LOS are interrelated. Attempt at reducing LOS will reduce the costs of care of surgical inpatient

National health insurance scheme: how protected are households in Oyo State, Nigeria from catastrophic health expenditure?

Background: The major objective of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Nigeria is to protect families from the financial hardship of large medical bills. Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) is rampart in Nigeria despite the take-off of the NHIS. This study aimed to determine if households enrolled in the NHIS were protected from having CHE. Methods: The study took place among 714 households in urban communities of Oyo State. CHE was measured using a threshold of 40% of monthly non-food expenditure. Descriptive statistics were done, Principal Component Analysis was used to divide households into wealth quintiles. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were done. Results: The mean age of household respondent was 33.5 years. The median household income was 43,500 naira (290 US dollars) and the range was 7,000–680,000 naira (46.7–4,533 US dollars) in 2012. The overall median household healthcare cost was 890 naira (5.9 US dollars) and the range was 10-17,700 naira (0.1–118 US dollars) in 2012. In all, 67 (9.4%) households were enrolled in NHIS scheme. Healthcare services was utilized by 637 (82.9%) and CHE occurred in 42 (6.6%) households. CHE occurred in 14 (10.9%) of the households in the lowest quintile compared to 3 (2.5%) in the highest wealth quintile ( P = 0.004). The odds of CHE among households in lowest wealth quintile is about 5 times. They had Crude OR (CI): 4.7 (1.3–16.8), P = 0.022. Non enrolled households were two times likely to have CHE, though not significant Conclusion: Households in the lowest wealth quintiles were at higher risk of CHE. Universal coverage of health insurance in Nigeria should be fast-tracked to give the expected financial risk protection and decreased incidence of CHE

Contribution of household health care expenditure to poverty in Oyo State, South West Nigeria: A rural and urban comparison

Introduction: The financial burden of health care costs in Nigeria is borne almost entirely by the individuals and household members as health care financing is still mostly from out of pocket (OOP) payments. OOP payments can lead households into poverty. This study aimed to estimate the contribution of household health care expenditure to poverty in rural and urban communities in Oyo state, Nigeria. Method: This is a comparative cross-sectional study using a tested and adapted version of the Living Standard Survey questionnaire to collect data on 5,696 household members from 1,434 household representatives. Representatives were selected using a multistage sampling method. Information was collected from 714(49.8%) and 720(50.2%) households in the urban and rural Local Government Area (LGA), respectively. International poverty line of $1.25 per day was used. Poverty level was measured with and without household health expenditure. An exact McNemar’s test was used to determine the difference in the proportion of poor, gross and net payment for health care services. SPSS software was used for data analysis. Results: Health care was utilised by 1,006 (70.2%) of the 1,434 households studied. Of urban and rural households, 637(89.2%) and 369(51.3%) utilized health care services, respectively. Only 513(29.8%) were poor while 1519(88.2%) were poor after considering the cost of utilising health care. Increase in poverty of 66.2% occurred because of health care utilisation (p<0.001). Conclusion: Health care expenditure increased the proportion of household members living below poverty line. To protect against poverty free basic health care services is required in Nigeria