Average cost for COVID-19 ICU patients estimated at more than $50,000: report – CBC

COVID-19 patients remain in hospital for about 15 days, new report finds

Sep 09, 2021

The average cost of treating a COVID-19 patient who needs intensive care in Canada is estimated at more than $50,000, compared with $8,400 for someone who’s had a heart attack, a new report says.

Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows the average cost for patients being treated for the virus is more than $23,000, which is four times higher than a patient with influenza.

Ann Chapman, interim director of health spending and primary care at CIHI, said the report reinforces the economic consequences of a serious illness, though it does not include the cost for doctors.

The report released Thursday says those with COVID-19 remain in hospital for about 15 days, twice as long as the typical pneumonia patient, whose treatment cost is about $8,000, and that more of those sick with COVID-19 are admitted to ICU and ventilated. One out of every five of them dies in intensive care.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cihi-covid19-canada-hospital-cost-1.6168531