Abstract
Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze diabetic foot patients' direct service costs until the cure of the disease. Materials Methods: The subjects of this study were randomly sampled 60 patients who had been treated for diabetic foot at one of two tertiary hospitals and cured of the disease during from January 2008 to December 2009, and whose diagnostic code was E11.5 or E14.5. Data were collected from medical records and direct service costs were analyzed using data on the payments of individual service charges. Direct service costs spent at other medical institutions for the same disease were excluded. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The subjects' mean hospital stay was 29 days, and mean period until cure was 132 days. The inpatient cost per patient was 10,844,648 won, outpatient cost was 715,751 won, and home care services cost was 641,854 won, so total direct service cost per patient was 11,913,419 won. The total direct service cost in patients who had their foot amputated was 12,769,822 won, 1.3 times higher than without amputation, who had vascular intervention was 16,219,477 won, 1.9 times higher than non-vascular intervention, who had both infection and artery occlusion was 17,522,435 won, 2.0 times higher than either infection or artery occlusion. Conclusion: In diabetic foot patients, the direct service cost was highest as 17,522,435 won in patients accompanied with both infection and occlusion of lower extremity artery.
