Economic Burden of Community-Acquired Pneumonia Among Pediatric Patients (Aged 3 Months to < 19 Years) in the Philippines.

Objective: 1) To determine the hospitalization, follow-up and total costs, and the economic burden of community-acquired pneumonia among pediatric patients aged 3 months to <19 years of age; 2) To compare the estimated cost of hospitalization to the pneumonia case rate payments of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Methods: Using the societal perspective, both healthcare and non-healthcare costs were estimated. This was done through two tertiary private hospitals in the Philippines. A base-case and sensitivity analyses were performed using 2012 as the reference year. The PhilHealth claims were the basis for the economic burden.

Results: The estimated healthcare-related hospitalization cost for PCAP-C was PHP24,332 - 75,409 (US$576 - 1,786). For PCAP-D, it was PHP77,460 - 121,301 (US$1,834 - 2,872) without mechanical ventilation and PHP97,993 - 141,834 if mechanical ventilation was used. These amounts are markedly higher than the PhilHealth case rates of PHP15,000 for PCAP C and PHP32,000 for PCAP D. The post-discharge cost was PHP1,175 - 1,531 for PCAP C and PHP1,275 for PCAP D. The total hospitalization cost were PHP 31,332 - 93,609 for PCAP C and PHP117,103 - 160,944 for PCAP D. The exact economic burden due to pneumonia among the pediatric population was not definitely ascertained due to lack of specific number of PhilHealth claims for this age group.

Conclusions: There is a huge disparity between the PhilHealth case rates for PCAP C and PCAP D and the study results. Hence, the estimated economic burden of hospitalization for pneumonia would be markedly higher.