Most costly and prevalent reasons for hospitalization in children with medical complexity in Ontario, Canada.

BACKGROUND AND

objectivesChildren with medical complexity (CMC) have chronic health conditions often associated with functional limitations. CMC comprise 1%-5% of the pediatric population. In Canada, their care accounts for one-third of pediatric health spending. We aim to describe the most costly and prevalent conditions leading to hospitalization in CMC in Ontario, Canada.

methodsPopulation-based, cross-sectional study from a universally funded system utilizing health administrative databases. Children (<18 years old) with valid provincial healthcare coverage admitted to a hospital from 2014 to 2019 were included. CMC was defined using validated algorithms. Encounters were classified into clinical conditions using the Pediatric Clinical Classification System. Outcomes included condition-specific prevalence, cost, and cost rank estimated using a costing algorithm in Canadian dollars.

resultsThere were 627,314 pediatric hospitalizations, costing $4.28 billion. Of these, 141,653 (23%) hospitalizations were for CMC, costing $2.25 billion (52%). Among encounters for CMC, 84,280 (60%) were for children with medical technology. One-third of hospitalizations in CMC were in community hospitals. Nearly half (1.30 million, 46%) of days in hospital were in CMC, along with 60% of intensive care unit (ICU) days (667,497 days). Low birth weight ($555.4 million), prematurity ($70.0 million), and respiratory distress of the newborn ($46.6 million) were the costliest conditions. Low birth weight (88 per 1000 encounters), chemotherapy (42 per 1000 encounters), and pneumonia (29 per 1000 encounters) were the most prevalent conditions.

conclusionsUnderstanding the most costly and prevalent inpatient conditions in CMC will help to prioritize more targeted research questions and interventions to improve healthcare utilization and patient outcomes.