Health Economic Comparison of Oncology and COVID-19 Patients

Aim This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitalized patients with cancer and/or COVID-19 disease at a university-based maximum care provider. Do the patient collectives differ in terms of health economics and do the results yield administrative implications for proactive management of regional cancer care. Method A retrospective, descriptive data analysis of clinical and health economic parameters of all oncological and COVID-19-postive patients admitted as in-patients at Marburg University Hospital and the combination of oncological patients with COVID-19 disease within the observation period from 2017 to 2021 was performed. Results A decrease in oncology-treated patients was observed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic period. Oncology patients with COVID-19 disease represent the patient population with the highest severity of disease, followed by COVID-19 and oncology-only patients. This is reflected in the economic performance measures. The chronological progression of DRG revenue and Case Mix Index per COVID-19 patient shows differences for time periods of the pandemic in Germany. Conclusion The comparison of the patient collectives confirms the particularly high-risk potential of oncological patients, which is reflected in a health economic costly treatment. National measures, contact restrictions or pandemic events can be traced by the chronological progression of clinical and economic parameters. Despite the international decline in out-patient and in-patient oncological patients, "state-of-the-art" cancer care is feasible in pandemic times. Because of this, there is a need for action for an inpatient maximum care provider to manage oncology care more proactively through communication and care modeling.