Impact of an integrated mother-preterm infant intervention on birth hospitalization charges

Objective To examine whether the H-HOPE (Hospital to Home: Optimizing the Preterm Infant’s Environment) intervention reduced birth hospitalization charges yielding net savings after adjusting for intervention costs. Study design One hundred and twenty-one mother-preterm infant dyads randomized to H-HOPE or a control group had birth hospitalization data. Neonatal intensive care unit costs were based on billing charges. Linear regression, propensity scoring and regression analyses were used to describe charge differences. Results Mean H-HOPE charges were $10,185 lower than controls ( p = 0.012). Propensity score matching showed the largest savings of $14,656 ( p = 0.003) for H-HOPE infants, and quantile regression showed a savings of $13,222 at the 75th percentile ( p = 0.015) for H-HOPE infants. Cost savings increased as hospital charges increased. The mean intervention cost was $680 per infant. Conclusions Lower birth hospitalization charges and the net cost savings of H-HOPE infants support implementation of H-HOPE as the standard of care for preterm infants.