Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29559855›Full record

ArticleCost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E2018

Econometric estimation of WHO-CHOICE country-specific costs for inpatient and outpatient health service delivery.

Karin Stenberg, Jeremy A Lauer, Georgios Gkountouras, Christopher Fitzpatrick, Anderson Stanciole

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Article in Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

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73citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

73 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  13. The economic costs of excessive sedentary behaviour in Japan.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2026
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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Karin Stenberg1Department of Health Systems Governance and Financing, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-5422-1752
Jeremy A Lauer1Department of Health Systems Governance and Financing, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Georgios Gkountouras2School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Christopher Fitzpatrick3Department of Neglected Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Anderson StancioleUnited Nations Population Fund, Asia and Pacific Regional Office, Bangkok, Thailand.

Funding

World Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPolicy makers require information on costs related to inpatient and outpatient health services to inform resource allocation decisions.

methodsCountry data sets were gathered in 2008-2010 through literature reviews, website searches and a public call for cost data. Multivariate regression analysis was used to explore the determinants of variability in unit costs using data from 30 countries. Two models were designed, with the inpatient and outpatient models drawing upon 3407 and 9028 observations respectively. Cost estimates are produced at country and regional level, with 95% confidence intervals.

resultsInpatient costs across 30 countries are significantly associated with the type of hospital, ownership, as well as bed occupancy rate, average length of stay, and total number of inpatient admissions. Changes in outpatient costs are significantly associated with location, facility ownership and the level of care, as well as to the number of outpatient visits and visits per provider per day.

conclusionsThese updated WHO-CHOICE service delivery unit costs are statistically robust and may be used by analysts as inputs for economic analysis. The models can predict country-specific unit costs at different capacity levels and in different settings.

Indexed as

CostEstimatesInpatientOutpatientRegression analysis

Identifiers

PMID29559855
PMCPMC5858135

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.