Costs of healthcare-associated infections to the Brazilian public Unified Health System in a tertiary-care teaching hospital: a matched case–control study

Background Little is known about the economic burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in Brazil. Aim To analyse the costs of hospitalization by reimbursement from the Brazilian government, via the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) affiliation, and direct costs in the adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Methods The matched-pairs case–control study (83 patients with HAIs and 83 without HAIs) was performed at a referral tertiary-care teaching hospital in Brazil in January 2018. In order to calculate the HAI costs from the perspective of the payer, the total cost for each hospitalization was obtained through the Hospital's Billing Sector. Direct costs were calculated annually for 949 critical patients during 2018. Findings The reimbursement cost per hospitalization of patients with HAIs was 75% (US$2721) higher than patients without HAIs (US$1553). When a patient has an HAI, in addition to a longer length of stay (15 days), there was an extra increase (US$996) in the reimbursement cost per hospitalization. An HAI in the ICU was associated with a total direct cost eight times higher compared with patients who did not develop infections in this unit, US$11,776 × US$1329, respectively. The direct cost of hospitalization in the ICU without HAI was 56.5% less than the reimbursement (US$1329 × US$3052, respectively), whereas for the patient with an HAI, the direct cost was 111.5% above the reimbursement (US$11,776 × US$5569, respectively). Conclusion HAIs contribute to a longer stay and an eight-fold increase in direct costs. It is necessary to reinforce programmes that prevent HAIs in Brazilian hospitals.