Abstract
This study aimed to estimate the hospitalization cost of thoracic surgical patients with lung cancer, treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Sotiria Hospital in Athens. This is the largest specialist thoracic disease hospital in the greater region of Central and Southern Greece. Methodology was based on the prospective study of patients' medical records, from which clinical and economic data were derived for a six-month period. The study sample consisted of 95 thoracic surgical patients. Economic analysis and cost estimation were based on the differentiation between nominal and real prices, occurring in the public hospital sector in Greece. Real ICU cost per patient is estimated at US$ 2,011 in 1998, while the total patients hospitalization cost was US$ 6,958. The patient's ICU cost represents about 29% of his total hospitalization cost, while the price deviation in the amounts covered by social insurance compared to the real hospitalization cost is also confirmed. It is believed that the use of economic analysis techniques could substantially contribute to the assessment of resource consumption, initially at a microeconomic and later at a macroeconomic level, and thus to the adoption of prospective payment systems, as these are encountered on an international level.