[Economic aspects in treatment of cystic fibrosis with chronic pulmonary pseudomonas infection. Ambulatory intravenous therapy in comparison with inpatient treatment].

Background: Due to limited resources within the health service and the continuous discussion on cost containment, economic criteria should also be considered when assessing therapy concepts. Particular results in terms of economic efficiency reserves are to be expected from a transfer of care from the in-patient to the out-patient sector.

Methods: In a prospective, direct cost recording of all relevant uses of resources, the direct and indirect costs of the treatment of 14 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) were included in the cross-over-design. The quality of life was recorded at least once for each patient using the EuroQol. In-patient intravenous antibiotic therapy carried out during the block of out-patient care served as one of the disqualification criteria when selecting patients.

Result: Over an observation period of nine months, the average direct cost recorded were DM 35,706 for out-patient and DM 40,143 for in-patient treatment (+15%). As far as indirect costs are concerned, the losses of production in the national economy recorded for in-patient treatment were 80% higher.

Conclusion: The direct and indirect costs for in-patient CF-therapy are in total higher than for out-patient care. Whether these cost advantages have to be "bought" with lower medical effectiveness needs to be demonstrated by further clinical studies. In the sense of the disease management approach, the results of this study should be used to help rationally weigh up the costs of out-patient care against alternative treatment concepts.