BACKGROUND Several clinical practice guidelines suggest using atypical over typical antipsychotics in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nevertheless, cost-containment policy urged restricting usage of atypical antipsychotics and switching from atypical to typical antipsychotics. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate clinical and economic impacts of switching from atypical to typical ant...

BACKGROUND To investigate the impact of professional physician-coordinated intensive follow-up on long-term expenditures after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in unstable angina (UA) patients. METHODS In this study, there were 669 UA patients who underwent successful PCI and followed up for 3 years, then divided into the intensive follow-up group (N = 337), and the usual follow-up gr...

BACKGROUND Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the second most common medical complication and a cause of excess length of hospital stay. Its incidence and economic burden are expected to increase as the population ages. We reviewed the recent literature to provide updated cost estimates on VTE management. METHODS Literature search strategies were performed in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Collaborati...

INTRODUCTION This epidemiological survey estimates the hospitalization burden related to Parkinson´s Disease in Spain. METHODS This observational retrospective survey was performed by reviewing data from the National Surveillance System for Hospital Data, which includes more than 98% of Spanish hospitals. All hospitalizations of patients with Parkinson´s disease that were reported from 1997-2...

INTRODUCTION Rural residents are benefitting from the current New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) in China. Treatment of diseases has improved and the total cost of hospitalization has decreased significantly because of the application of NCMS. Most articles in this area have mainly focused on the policy of NCMS, but few studies have been relevant to the influence of NCMS on a specific diseas...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the cost of islet transplantation in type 1 diabetic patients with a functional renal graft in a multicenter network. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study involved nine diabetic patients transplanted in the Swiss-French Groupe Rhône-Alpes, Rhin et Geneve pour la transplantation d'Ilots Langerhans (GRAGIL) consortium between March 1999 and June 2000. The direct medical c...

Objectives: To determine 1) the cost of hospitalization, the 1-week postdischarge cost, the total cost, and the economic burden of community-acquired pneumonia among patients aged 19 years or older in the Philippines and 2) the difference between the estimated costs and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) pneumonia case rate payments. Methods: The study involved two tertiar...