Healthcare costs of ICU survivors are higher before and after ICU admission compared to a population based control group: A descriptive study combining healthcare insurance data and data from a Dutch national quality registry

To identify subgroups of ICU patients with high healthcare utilization for healthcare expenditure management purposes such as prevention and targeted care. We conducted a descriptive cohort study, combining a national health insurance claims database and a national quality registry database for ICUs. Claims data in the timeframe 2012–2014 were combined with the clinical data of ICU patients admitted to an ICU during 2013. A population based control group was created based on the ICU population. 56,760 ICU patients and 75,232 controls from the general population were included. Median healthcare costs per day alive for the ICU population were significantly higher during the year before (€8.9 (IQR €2.4; €32.1)) and the year after ICU admission (€15.4 (IQR €5.4; €51.2)) compared to the control group ((€2.8 (IQR €0.7; €8.8) and €3.1 (IQR €0.8; €10.1)). ICU patients with more chronic conditions had significantly higher healthcare costs before and after ICU admission compared to ICU patients with less chronic conditions. ICU patients have three to five times higher healthcare costs per day alive compared to a control population. Our findings can be used to optimize the healthcare trajectories of ICU patients with high healthcare utilization after discharge. •ICU patients had 3–5 times higher healthcare costs per day compared to a control population.•Differences in healthcare costs are present during the year before ICU admission.•Healthcare costs are greatly influenced by the chronic conditions of ICU patients.