HIV affects almost 37.9 million persons globally, and an estimated 1.7 million new
HIV infections occur in 2018 (1). While HIV/AIDS is taking a devastating toll on populations'
health, lives and families, the disease is imposing a serious economic burden on governments
(2–4) being classified as the greatest single financial burden on healthcare systems
globally (5). This burden is predominantly due to the high payments of antiretroviral
therapy (ART), hospitalizations, and associated opportunistic infections treatment
(6, 7). In Portugal, HIV continues to be a major public health concern and HIV prevalence
is among the highest in Europe (8, 9) with 41,000 individuals who are living with
HIV, representing 0.5% of the total population (10) (see Table 1 for an informative
overview of HIV/AIDS in Portugal). The country also still records annual rates of
new HIV/AIDS diagnosis, which have been classified among the highest in the European
Union (EU) (8). Admissions among HIV/AIDS patients still pose considerable challenges
to the Portuguese national health system (5, 11). In Portugal, hospitalizations related
to HIV/AIDS are some of the most expensive with an average daily cost of €825 and
an average length of stay of 23 days, placing HIV/AIDS as the second greatest Major
Diagnostic Category (MDC) (5, 12). In addition, and after the financial crisis that
hit Portugal in 2011, the country went through strict fiscal austerity that resulted
in budget cuts, reduction of spending on sensitive health sectors, and restructuring
numerous public entities including the National AIDS Program (NAP) (12–14). It is
important to know that the average cost of HIV treatment in Portugal is about 14,000
€/patient per year (6). The main cost driver is the antiretroviral medications (€
9,598), followed by hospitalizations (€ 1,323). Treatment costs grow with the severity
of disease from € 11,901, with a CD4 count more than 500, to € 23,351, with a CD4
count <50 (6). In other words, while cost related to antiretroviral remains constant
over the course of the disease, the cost progression remains mainly linked to the
associated hospitalizations and admissions related to HIV. Moreover, the shift of
HIV infection from a fatal disease into a chronic illness carries substantial challenges
to the health system. The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has dramatically
increased the life expectancy of HIV patients (15–17). This modification in the natural
evolution of HIV infection has led to a substantial increase in the financial burden
and cost due to the net increase in the number of people living with HIV and the associated
life-long treatment and comorbidities (16, 18).
Table 1
HIV/AIDS estimates in Portugal.
Adults aged 15 and over living with HIV
41,000 (CI: 36,000–46,000)
Adult aged 15–49 HIV prevalence rate
0.5 (CI: 0.4–0.5)
HIV incidence per 1,000 population (adults 15–49)
0.10
People living with HIV who are on ART
37,000
Percent of people living with HIV who are on ART
90 (CI: 78–95)
Average cost of HIV treatment per year
14,277 €/patient
*
Sources: UNAIDS,
*
Perelman et al. (6).
CI, Confidence Interval.
In this context, one possible solution to overcome this associated economic burden
is to increase value in healthcare by integrating quality measures of hospitals' performance
while reducing the costs of healthcare. Previous reviews supported the evidence that
there is great potential for decreasing costs by targeting deficiencies in quality,
and accordingly we can maximize the benefits given the available resources (19–24).
Two important quality measures had obtained growing attention as a benchmark indicator
for measuring hospital's performance, thirty-day readmission rate, and length of stay
(LOS) (22, 25–28). However, despite being optimal methods for assessing hospital's
performance, there remains a scarcity of research pertaining to the factors that can
influence these quality indicators, especially when it comes to assessing hospitalizations
among HIV/AIDS patients in Portugal. Thirty-day hospital readmission is defined as
an episode in which a patient is readmitted within 30 days from the last discharge.
Early readmission rates have increasingly been used as an outcome measure in health
services research and as a quality benchmark for health systems (29–31). However,
although often preventable, early readmissions have been recognized as frequent and
costly events (32–34). For example, in the United States, one in five Medicare beneficiaries
has 30-days readmission, with a cost of around $26 billion per year (34, 35). Accordingly,
hospital readmission rates were incorporated in the reimbursement decisions for several
programs, in which the health systems penalize hospitals with higher than expected
readmission rates (33, 36).
The second quality indicator is length of stay which is defined as the number of days
a patient is hospitalized in relation to the admission diagnosis and it had been widely
used to evaluate the effect of implementing patient group related reimbursement systems
in the form of Diagnosis Related Groups systems (DRG) is length of stay (37, 38).
This quality indicator has been recommended as an important outcome measure for quality
improvement activities (28). Using length of stay as a hospital performance measure
will allow us to impact cost and quality through payment incentives for hospitals
or health care providers. For example, if a hospital reduces length of stay and accordingly
the other associated resources and costs, the hospitals will be more efficient through
maintaining a higher marginal return on each per admission payment (22).
The Portuguese national database of admissions among HIV patients can be obtained
for research purposes from the Administration of the Health System (ACSS) (39). These
data are anonymous, refers to the Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs), and each record
corresponds to a discharge episode and contains information collected while the patients
were admitted to the hospital. These data include information about length of stay
as well as information collected during the hospitalization that include socio-demographic
characteristics (age, sex, region of residence), dates of hospitalization and discharge,
Index hospitalization (admission type (urgent or scheduled), type of intervention
(surgical or medical), type of diagnosis (primary and secondary diagnoses), type of
procedures during the hospitalization), prior health care utilization (mode of transfer,
destination after discharge), outcome at discharge (alive or deceased), coverage by
the national health system (Yes/No). To determine 30-day readmission for each hospitalization,
a unique fictional code included in the data can be used since it allows determining
how many episodes correspond to the same user, in the same institution. This fictional
code does not identify the user nor allow its identification afterward. Accordingly,
readmission episodes and the time span between the readmission and the last discharge
can be calculated for each hospitalization. accordingly, The variable of interest
can be created as follows: Y = 0 if hospitalizations without subsequent 30-day readmission,
Y = 1 if hospitalizations with subsequent 30-day readmission(s). Univariate and multivariate
logistic models can be estimated afterward to identify the determinants of hospitalizations
with subsequent 30-day readmission.
Regarding length of stay, each hospitalization is associated with a record that refers
to the number of days each person remains at hospital as a count data. However, giving
the statistical nature of length of stay as count data, caution should be taken when
handling such data with count distribution [for an informative overview of count distribution
see (40)]. Using the most common techniques, namely the ordinary least squares (OLS)
or logistic regression to handle a dependent variable with positive skewness as occurs
in LOS, will violate the fundamental assumptions behind each technique (41, 42). Accordingly,
this may result in biased and inefficient estimates and produce results that do not
accurately reflect the observed data (41, 42). Fortunately, count statistical techniques
(Poisson, negative binomial, Zero Inflated Poisson, and Zero Inflated Negative Binomial
models) have been developed to handle count data on a dependent variable and can replace
these suboptimal statistical strategies (43, 44). Using these count regression techniques
will allow us to accurately determine the factors that can push length of stay further.
Moreover, the conceptual and statistical advantages of each count model should be
illustrated precisely since the accuracy and nature of results tend to vary depending
on the specific model utilized.
This opinion contributes to the attempts on reducing the economic burden of HIV in
Portugal, which is in line with Portugal's policy of cost reduction as a target to
stabilize the economic situation. Our opinion point to other concerns that need to
be considered: integration of quality measures as a method of evaluating hospitals'
performance is crucial in the light of limited resources and should be considered
as a national priority. A considerable work should be devoted to controlling and investigating
the factors which tend to push 30-day admission rate and length of stay expenses further.
The statistical nature of quality measures requires a deep understanding of the appropriate
statistical models that should be used to avoid biased estimates. Finally, there is
a potential in policy decision-making concerning the optimal use of limited resources
and as a first step, we should deeply investigate the determinants of 30-days readmission
and length of stay among HIV patients in Portugal.
Author Contributions
AS conceived the work, reviewed literature, and wrote the manuscript. MM supervised
the work and wrote the manuscript. All the authors have agreed on the final version
of the manuscript.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial
or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.