Health care utilisation and costs in the general population in Germany

TY - JOUR

T1 - Health care utilisation and costs in the general population in Germany

AU - Grupp, Helen

AU - König, Hans-Helmut

AU - Konnopka, Alexander

N1 - Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - AIM: To elicit reference values of medical and non-medical health care utilisation and costs in Germany from a societal perspective.METHODS: 5007 telephone interviews were conducted in a representative sample of the German-speaking population above the age of 18. Participants were asked about medical and non-medical health care utilisation over the preceding six months. Participants were also asked about medical conditions, lifestyle, sociodemographic characteristics, employment status and sick leave. Resource utilisation was valued monetarily and analysed by means of descriptive and econometric tools (generalised linear models/two-part models). To obtain representative results, we weighted observations according to age, gender, education and state of residence.RESULTS: 95% of the respondents had at least one contact with an outpatient physician. 12% of the respondents were hospitalised and 3% received rehabilitative care. Direct costs per respondent were €1475 on average. The mean cost of physician visits was €278. We found differences in average costs for physician visits between men (€232) and women (€321). Indirect costs were €1554 on average per full-time employee. Multivariate analysis showed significant associations between direct costs and morbidity, age and gender. Indirect costs appeared to be significantly associated with morbidity and age, but not with gender.CONCLUSION: Our reference values can be regarded as representative reference values for health care utilisation and costs, and can be used for the calculation of disease-specific excess costs.

AB - AIM: To elicit reference values of medical and non-medical health care utilisation and costs in Germany from a societal perspective.METHODS: 5007 telephone interviews were conducted in a representative sample of the German-speaking population above the age of 18. Participants were asked about medical and non-medical health care utilisation over the preceding six months. Participants were also asked about medical conditions, lifestyle, sociodemographic characteristics, employment status and sick leave. Resource utilisation was valued monetarily and analysed by means of descriptive and econometric tools (generalised linear models/two-part models). To obtain representative results, we weighted observations according to age, gender, education and state of residence.RESULTS: 95% of the respondents had at least one contact with an outpatient physician. 12% of the respondents were hospitalised and 3% received rehabilitative care. Direct costs per respondent were €1475 on average. The mean cost of physician visits was €278. We found differences in average costs for physician visits between men (€232) and women (€321). Indirect costs were €1554 on average per full-time employee. Multivariate analysis showed significant associations between direct costs and morbidity, age and gender. Indirect costs appeared to be significantly associated with morbidity and age, but not with gender.CONCLUSION: Our reference values can be regarded as representative reference values for health care utilisation and costs, and can be used for the calculation of disease-specific excess costs.

U2 - 10.1016/j.healthpol.2015.11.005

DO - 10.1016/j.healthpol.2015.11.005

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 26797256

VL - 120

SP - 159

EP - 169

JO - HEALTH POLICY

JF - HEALTH POLICY

SN - 0168-8510

IS - 2

ER -