Economic Impact of SDD
Total hospital costs associated with cryoballoon ablation include both
the procedure cost and the cost associated with the duration of hospital
stay. Since the procedure costs were similar for the SDD and ONS groups,
the expense associated with an overnight hospital stay determined the
total cost difference to the hospital between SDD and ONS cohorts. The
hospital cost savings for each patient who followed a SDD protocol was
$917, $1,437, $1,676 for the East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast
hospitals, respectively. The one-way economic sensitivity model
predicted yearly hospital cost savings as a percentage of SDD patients
to every 100 cryoballoon ablation cases/year (Table 4 ). The
greatest annual hospital savings were found in the West Coast hospital
with savings of $8,381 when 5% of every 100 treated patients followed
a SDD protocol to $83,813 in savings when 50% of every 100 treated
patients were discharged the same day. The annual savings for the
Midwest hospital ranged between $7,185 and $71,850 when 5% to 50% of
patients followed a SDD protocol, and from $4,583 to $45,825 when 5%
to 50% of cryoballoon ablation patients were discharged the same day as
the procedure in the East Coast hospital. The higher the percentage of
patients discharged home on the same day the greater the saving for all
three hospitals evaluated (Figure 2 ). Although difficult to
quantify, a SDD protocol frees a bed for an additional admission. The
value of this would depend on the overall hospital census and the type
of admission.