Evaluation of In-Hospital and Community-Based Healthcare Utilization and Costs During the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic in Alberta, Canada: A Population-Based Descriptive Study

Assessing the financial burden of COVID-19 is important for planning health services and resource allocation to inform future pandemic response. This study examines the changing dynamics in healthcare utilization patterns and costs from a public healthcare perspective during the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta, Canada. Population-based descriptive study. All adult patients over the age of 18 years who had a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis in Alberta, Canada from March 1, 2020 to December 15, 2021. We described demographic information and community- and hospital-based healthcare utilization and costs. We compared changes in each outcome throughout the first four waves of the pandemic. Among 255,037 patients, hospitalization incurred significantly higher costs ( = 20,603; aRR = 755.51; marginal cost: $21,738.17 CAD;