Sonymol K, Shankar Ravi
Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Value Health Reg Issues. 2022 May;29:93-99. doi: 10.1016/j.vhri.2021.10.001. Epub 2021 Dec 11.
Reducing healthcare costs is a constant endeavor of all healthcare organizations, governments, policy makers, and individuals. A comparative study of available healthcare policies from the patient's perspective is not available. Furthermore, an analysis of how the various components of these policies affect the healthcare cost of a patient is required.
Data were collected from 150 hospitalized patients in India regarding their views on 7 healthcare cost categories covering 22 cost components. These are statistically analyzed under 4 commonly used health insurance policies (2 government insurance schemes: ex-servicemen contributory health scheme and employee state insurance; private insurance schemes; and self-financing-ie, no insurance) to assess which healthcare cost component is more important under which policy option.
Under 7 healthcare cost categories, 22 cost components were studied, and out of these 22, 16 were found statistically significant. Results revealed that the treatment of all 16 significant cost components under the 4 health insurance policy options was statistically different.
Patients covered under government sector health insurance policies were found to be less concerned about healthcare costs, whereas those covered under private health insurance policies were found to be more cost-conscious. Access to healthcare or transportation costs to the healthcare facility is a key concern area for self-financed patients.
降低医疗成本是所有医疗组织、政府、政策制定者和个人一直努力的方向。目前尚无从患者角度对现有医疗政策进行的比较研究。此外，还需要分析这些政策的各个组成部分如何影响患者的医疗成本。
收集了印度150名住院患者对涵盖22个成本组成部分的7个医疗成本类别的看法。在4种常用的医疗保险政策（2种政府保险计划：退役军人缴费型健康计划和员工国家保险；私人保险计划；以及自费，即无保险）下对这些数据进行统计分析，以评估在何种政策选择下哪个医疗成本组成部分更为重要。
在7个医疗成本类别下，研究了22个成本组成部分，其中16个具有统计学意义。结果显示，4种医疗保险政策选项下所有16个重要成本组成部分的治疗情况在统计学上存在差异。
发现参加政府部门医疗保险政策的患者对医疗成本的关注度较低，而参加私人医疗保险政策的患者则更注重成本。获得医疗服务或前往医疗机构的交通成本是自费患者的一个关键关注领域。
