[Assessment of costs of health insurance, substitution therapy in chronic renal insufficiency].

The authors have studied the cost of the different treatments proposed in ESRD to patients attended by the same nephrologic team. For each patient they have isolated two consecutive periods of treatment, each six months apart. Treatment modifications noted between the two periods allowed the patient to be used as his own control. The results show that the costs are essentially composed of the dialysis sessions, hospitalisations and transport, and that their level and composition differ significantly between the different treatments. They derive a typology composed of three groups of patients, which differ in their treatment, age, duration of ESRD, complications, and total cost of treatment. They conclude that services should be organised in such a way that a range of different treatments can reasonably be provided, according to patient needs.