Health expenditures after first hospital admission for heart failure in Nova Scotia, Canada: a retrospective cohort study.

backgroundAlthough the frequency of heart failure makes it among the costliest of illnesses, there are scant Canadian data on annual costs of treatment or the costs as the condition advances. Our objective was to estimate mean prevalence- and incidence-based direct medical costs among older adults discharged alive after a first hospital admission for heart failure.

methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study using population-based administrative health databases for Nova Scotia. The cohort comprised persons 50 years of age or older with an incident hospital admission for heart failure between 2009 and 2012. We considered the costs (expressed as 2020 Canadian dollars) of hospital admissions, physician visits and, for patients 65 years of age or older, outpatient cardiac medications. We estimated costs for calendar years, longitudinally and in the last 2 years of life. We analyzed costs from the perspective of a third-party public payer.

resultsThe cohort consisted of 3327 patients (mean age 77.6 yr; 1605 [48.2%] women). Median survival was 2.5 and 2.2 years among men and women, respectively. Annual prevalence-based costs were about $7100. Mean incidence-based costs ranged between $65 000 and $164 000 in the year after diagnosis and decreased by 90% subsequently. Costs were 4 to 7 times higher in the year before death than in the period from 1 to 2 years before death.

interpretationThe direct medical costs of treating patients with heart failure in Nova Scotia displayed a reverse J shape, with costs highest after diagnosis, declining subsequently and then increasing during the final year of life. Strategies designed to improve the quality of care immediately after diagnosis and during more advanced stages of disease might reduce these costs.