Health-Related Costs of Intimate Partner Violence: Using Linked Police and Health Registers.

This study aims to estimate direct health-related costs for victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) using nationwide linked data based on police reports and two healthcare registers in Finland from 2015 to 2020 (N = 21,073). We used a unique register dataset to identify IPV victims from the data based on police reports and estimated the attributable costs by applying econometric models to individual-level data. We used exact matching to create a reference group who had not been exposed to IPV. The mean, unadjusted, attributable healthcare cost for victims of IPV was €6,910 per individual over the 5-year period after being first identified as a victim. When adjusting for gender, age, education, occupation, and mental-health- and pregnancy-related diagnoses, the mean attributable health-related cost for the 5 years was €3,280. The annual attributable costs of the victims were consistently higher than those for nonvictims during the entire study period. Thus, our results suggest that the adverse health consequences of IPV persist and are associated with excess health service use for 5 years after exposure to IPV. Most victims of IPV were women, but men were also exposed to IPV, although the estimates were statistically significant only for female victims. Victims of IPV were over-represented among individuals outside the labor force and lower among those who were educated. The total healthcare costs of victims of IPV varied according to the socioeconomic factors. This study highlights the need for using linked register data to understand the characteristics of IPV and to assess its healthcare costs. The study results suggest that there is a significant socioeconomic gradient in victimization, which could also be useful to address future IPV prevention and resource allocation.

Association of diabetes type and chronic diabetes complications with early exit from the labour force: register-based study of people with diabetes in Finland.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Diabetes and diabetes complications are a cause of substantial morbidity, resulting in early exits from the labour force and lost productivity. The aim of this study was to examine differences in early exits between people with type 1 and 2 diabetes and to assess the role of chronic diabetes complications on early exit. We also estimated the economic burden of lost productivity due to early exits. METHODS: People of working age (age 17-64) with diabetes in 1998-2011 in Finland were detected using national registers (Ntype 1 = 45,756, Ntype 2 = 299,931). For the open cohort, data on pensions and deaths, healthcare usage, medications and basic demographics were collected from the registers. The outcome of the study was early exit from the labour force defined as pension other than old age pension beginning before age 65, or death before age 65. We analysed the early exit outcome and its risk factors using the Kaplan-Meier method and extended Cox regression models. We fitted linear regression models to investigate the risk factors of lost working years and productivity costs among people with early exit. RESULTS: The difference in median age at early exit from the labour force between type 1 (54.0) and type 2 (58.3) diabetes groups was 4.3 years. The risk of early exit among people with type 1 diabetes increased faster after age 40 compared with people with type 2 diabetes. Each of the diabetes complications was associated with an increase in the hazard of early exit regardless of diabetes type compared with people without the complication, with eye-related complications as an exception. Diabetes complications partly but not completely explained the difference between diabetes types. The mean lost working years was 6.0 years greater in the type 1 diabetes group than in the type 2 diabetes group among people with early exit. Mean productivity costs of people with type 1 diabetes and early exit were found to be 1.4-fold greater compared with people with type 2 diabetes. The total productivity costs of incidences of early exits in the type 2 diabetes group were notably higher compared with the type 1 group during the time period (€14,400 million, €2800 million). CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: We found a marked difference in the patterns of risk of early exit between people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The difference was largest close to statutory retirement age. On average, exits in the type 1 diabetes group occurred at an earlier age and resulted in higher mean lost working years and mean productivity costs. The potential of prevention, timely diagnosis and management of diabetes is substantial in terms of avoiding reductions in individual well-being and productivity.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of PSA-based mass screening: Evidence from a randomised controlled trial combined with register data.

In contrast to earlier studies which have used modelling to perform cost-effectiveness analysis, this study links data from a randomised controlled trial with register data from nationwide registries to reveal new evidence on costs, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of organised mass prostate-cancer screening based on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. Cost-effectiveness analyses were conducted with individual-level data on health-care costs from comprehensive registers and register data on real-world effectiveness from the two arms of the Finnish Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (FinRSPC), following 80,149 men from 1996 through 2015. The study examines cost-effectiveness in terms of overall mortality and, in addition, in terms of diagnosed men's mortality from prostate cancer and mortality with but not from prostate cancer. Neither arm of the FinRSPC was clearly more cost-effective in analysis in terms of overall mortality. Organised screening in the FinRSPC could be considered cost-effective in terms of deaths from prostate cancer: averting just over one death per 1000 men screened. However, even with an estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of below 20,000€ per death avoided, this result should not be considered in isolation. This is because mass screening in this trial also resulted in increases in death with, but not from, prostate cancer: with over five additional deaths per 1000 men screened. Analysis of real-world data from the FinRSPC reveals new evidence of the comparative effectiveness of PSA-based screening after 20 years of follow-up, suggesting the possibility of higher mortality, as well as higher healthcare costs, for screening-arm men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer but who do not die from it. These findings should be corroborated or contradicted by similar analyses using data from other trials, in order to reveal if more diagnosed men have also died in the screening arms of other trials of mass screening for prostate cancer.

Early part-time sick leave results in considerable savings in social security costs at national level: an analysis based on a quasi-experiment in Finland.

Objectives We analyzed social security costs based on an earlier quasi-experiment that compared work participation between partial sickness beneficiaries and a matched group of full sickness beneficiaries. Methods Utilizing a population-based 70% representative sample, 1878 persons with part-time sick leave (intervention group) due to musculoskeletal diseases or mental disorders at an early stage of work disability and their propensity-score-matched controls with full-time sick leave were followed for two years. The outcome was the difference (absolute and relative) in social security costs between the intervention and control groups during follow-up. Costs of sickness absence, vocational rehabilitation, unemployment, and retirement days were calculated from national administrative registers. Results A cost reduction of €2395 per person per year [95% confidence interval (CI) -2890- -1899) was observed in the intervention compared with the control group. The cost ratio was 0.512 (95% CI 0.511-0.513). The largest savings were attributable to differences in the costs of retirement and vocational rehabilitation. The savings were higher for the second compared with the first follow-up year. Costs were saved across both genders and diagnostic groups, however, savings for women with musculoskeletal diseases were lowest. Conclusions Part-time instead of full-time sick leave, at the early stage of work disability due to musculoskeletal diseases or mental disorders, leads to considerable social security cost savings during two years, in correspondence with increased work participation and in addition to earlier reported health benefits. Part-time sick leave can be recommended from an economic perspective; however more consideration should be given to women with musculoskeletal diseases.

Costs of screening for prostate cancer: Evidence from the Finnish Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer after 20-year follow-up using register data.

OBJECTIVES: Few empirical analyses of the impact of organised prostate cancer (PCa) screening on healthcare costs exist, despite cost-related information often being considered as a prerequisite to informed screening decisions. Therefore, we estimate the differences in register-based costs of publicly funded healthcare in the two arms of the Finnish Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (FinRSPC) after 20 years. METHODS: We obtained individual-level register data on prescription medications, as well as inpatient and outpatient care, to estimate healthcare costs for 80,149 men during the first 20 years of the FinRSPC. We compared healthcare costs for the men in each trial arm and performed statistical analysis. RESULTS: For all men diagnosed with PCa during the 20-year observation period, mean PCa-related costs appeared to be around 10% lower in the screening arm (SA). Mean all-cause healthcare costs for these men were also lower in the SA, but differences were smaller than for PCa-related costs alone, and no longer statistically significant. For men dying from PCa, although the difference was not statistically significant, mean all-cause healthcare costs were around 10% higher. When analysis included all observations, cumulative costs were slightly higher in the CA; however, after excluding extreme values, cumulative costs were slightly higher in the SA. CONCLUSIONS: No major cost impacts due to screening were apparent, but the FinRSPC's 20-year follow-up period is too short to provide definitive evidence at this stage. Longer term follow-up will be required to be better informed about the costs of, or savings from, introducing mass PCa screening.

Trends in the use and costs of round-the-clock long-term care in the last two years of life among old people between 2002 and 2013 in Finland.

BACKGROUND: The structure of long-term care (LTC) for old people has changed: care has been shifted from institutions to the community, and death is being postponed to increasingly old age. The aim of the study was to analyze how the use and costs of LTC in the last two years of life among old people changed between 2002 and 2013. METHODS: Data were derived from national registers. The study population contains all those who died at the age of 70 years or older in 2002-2013 in Finland (N = 427,078). The costs were calculated using national unit cost information. Binary logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used to study the association of year of death with use and costs of LTC. RESULTS: The proportion of those who used LTC and the sum of days in LTC in the last two years of life increased between 2002 and 2013. The mean number of days in institutional LTC decreased, while that for sheltered housing increased. The costs of LTC per user decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Use of LTC in the last two years of life increased, which was explained by the postponement of death to increasingly old age. Costs of LTC decreased as sheltered housing replaced institutional LTC. However, an accurate comparison of costs of different types of LTC is difficult, and the societal costs of sheltered housing are not well known.

Photodynamic Therapy for Actinic Keratoses: A Randomized Prospective Non-sponsored Cost-effectiveness Study of Daylight-mediated Treatment Compared with Light-emitting Diode Treatment.

Daylight-mediated photodynamic therapy (DL-PDT) is considered as effective as conventional PDT using artificial light (light-emitting diode (LED)-PDT) for treatment of actinic keratoses (AK). This randomized prospective non-sponsored study assessed the cost-effectiveness of DL-PDT compared with LED-PDT. Seventy patients with 210 AKs were randomized to DL-PDT or LED-PDT groups. Effectiveness was assessed at 6 months. The costs included societal costs and private costs, including the time patients spent in treatment. Results are presented as incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). The total costs per patient were significantly lower for DL-PDT (€132) compared with LED-PDT (€170), giving a cost saving of €38 (p = 0.022). The estimated probabilities for patients' complete response were 0.429 for DL-PDT and 0.686 for LED-PDT; a difference in probability of being healed of 0.257. ICER showed a monetary gain of €147 per unit of effectiveness lost. DL-PDT is less costly and less effective than LED-PDT. In terms of cost-effectiveness analysis, DL-PDT provides lower value for money compared with LED-PDT.

Long-term care use among old people in their last 2 years of life: variations across Finland.

Variations across Finland in the use of six different long-term care (LTC) services among old people in their last 2 years of life, and the effects of characteristics of municipalities on the variations were studied. We studied variations in the use of residential home, sheltered housing, regular home care and inpatient care in health centre wards by using national registers. We studied how the use of LTC was associated with characteristics of the individuals and in particular characteristics of the municipalities in which they lived. Analyses were conducted with multilevel binary logistic regression. Data included all individuals (34,753) who died in the year 2008 at the age of 70 or over. Of those, 58.3% used some kind of LTC during their last 2 years of life. We found considerable variations between municipalities in the use of different kinds of LTC. A portion of the variation was explained by municipality characteristics. The size and location of the municipality had the strongest association with the use of different kinds of LTC. The economic status of the municipality and morbidity at the population level were poorly associated with LTC use, whereas old-age dependency showed no association. When individual-level characteristics were added to the models, these associations did not alter. Results indicated that the delivery system characteristics had an important effect on the use of LTC services. The considerable variation in LTC services also poses questions with respect to equity in access and to quality of LTC across the country.

[Cost effects of laparoscopic and hysteroscopic female sterilization]. / Naisten laparoskooppisen ja hysteroskooppisen sterilisaation kustannusvaikutukset.

INTRODUCTION: The aim was to elucidate the costs and clinical results of sterilization. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was carried out on sterilizations conducted at the Hyvinkää hospital in 2006 to 2007 by tubal ligation with clips and by microimplants. RESULTS: Total costs obtained for microimplant sterilization per patient were 1,146 Euros and for clip sterilization 1,712 Euros. Postoperative pain was significantly less in the microimplant group, and adverse effects associated with the procedure were more common in the clip sterilization group. CONCLUSIONS: Microimplant sterilization performed on an outpatient basis is more cost-effective than laparoscopic clip sterilization.

Does informal care reduce public care expenditure on elderly care? Estimates based on Finland's Age Study.

BACKGROUND: To formulate sustainable long-term care policies, it is critical first to understand the relationship between informal care and formal care expenditure. The aim of this paper is to examine to what extent informal care reduces public expenditure on elderly care. METHODS: Data from a geriatric rehabilitation program conducted in Finland (Age Study, n = 732) were used to estimate the annual public care expenditure on elderly care. We first constructed hierarchical multilevel regression models to determine the factors associated with elderly care expenditure. Second, we calculated the adjusted mean costs of care in four care patterns: 1) informal care only for elderly living alone; 2) informal care only from a co-resident family member; 3) a combination of formal and informal care; and 4) formal care only. We included functional independence and health-related quality of life (15D score) measures into our models. This method standardizes the care needs of a heterogeneous subject group and enabled us to compare expenditure among various care categories even when differences were observed in the subjects' physical health. RESULTS: Elder care that consisted of formal care only had the highest expenditure at 25,300 Euros annually. The combination of formal and informal care had an annual expenditure of 22,300 Euros. If a person received mainly informal care from a co-resident family member, then the annual expenditure was only 4,900 Euros and just 6,000 Euros for a person living alone and receiving informal care. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis of a frail elderly Finnish population shows that the availability of informal care considerably reduces public care expenditure. Therefore, informal care should be taken into account when formulating policies for long-term care. The process whereby families choose to provide care for their elderly relatives has a significant impact on long-term care expenditure.

Effects of municipality factors on care transitions.

AIMS: To analyse whether transitions between care settings differ between municipalities in the last 2 years of life among older people in Finland. METHODS: Data were derived from Finnish national registers, and include all those who died in 2002 and 2003 at the age of 70 or older except those living in very small municipalities (n=67,027). Data include admissions and discharges from health and social care facilities (university hospitals, general hospitals, health centres, residential care facilities) and time spent outside care facilities for 730 days prior to death. Three-level negative binomial regression analyses were performed to study the effect of municipal factors on (1) the total number of all care transitions, (2) the number of transitions between home and different care facilities, and (3) transitions between different care facilities. RESULTS: The municipality of residence had only a minor effect on the total number of care transitions, but greater variation between municipalities was found when different types of care transition were examined separately. Largest differences were found in care transitions involving specialised care. Age structure, urbanity, and economic situation of the municipality had an impact on several different care transitions. CONCLUSION: The total number of care transitions in 2 final years of life was approximately similar irrespective of the municipality of residence, but the findings imply differences in transitioning specialised care. Potentially, this may suggest inequality between the municipalities, but more detailed studies are needed to confirm the factors underlying these differences.

Cost-effectiveness of lifestyle counselling as primary prevention of gestational diabetes mellitus: findings from a cluster-randomised trial.

AIMS: The aim was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of primary prevention of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) through intensified counselling on physical activity, diet, and appropriate weight gain among the risk group. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cost-effectiveness analysis was based on data from a cluster-randomised controlled GDM prevention trial carried out in primary health-care maternity clinics in Finland. Women (n = 399) with at least one risk factor for GDM were included. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated in terms of birth weight, 15D, and perceived health as measured with a visual analogue scale (VAS). A bootstrap technique for cluster-randomised samples was used to estimate uncertainty around a cost-effectiveness acceptability curve. RESULTS: The mean total cost in the intervention group was €7,763 (standard deviation (SD): €4,511) and in the usual-care group was €6,994 (SD: €4,326, p = 0.14). The mean intervention cost was €141. The difference for costs in the birth-weight group was €753 (95% CI: -250 to 1,818) and in effects for birth weight was 115 g (95% CI: 15 to 222). The ICER for birth weight was almost €7, with 86.7% of bootstrap pairs located in the north-east quadrant, indicating that the intervention was more effective and more expensive in birth weight terms than the usual care was. The data show an 86.7% probability that each gram of birth weight avoided requires an additional cost of €7. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention was effective for birth weight but was not cost-effective for birth weight, 15D, or VAS when compared to the usual care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN 33885819.

Factors associated with the utilization and costs of health and social services in frail elderly patients.

BACKGROUND: Universal access is one of the major aims in public health and social care. Services should be provided on the basis of individual needs. However, municipal autonomy and the fragmentation of services may jeopardize universal access and lead to variation between municipalities in the delivery of services. This paper aims to identify patient-level characteristics and municipality-level service patterns that may have an influence on the use and costs of health and social services of frail elderly patients. METHODS: Hierarchical analysis was applied to estimate the effects of patient and municipality-level variables on services utilization. RESULTS: The variation in the use of health care services was entirely due to patient-related variables, whereas in the social services, 9% of the variation was explained by the municipality-level and 91% by the patient-level characteristics. Health-related quality of life explained a major part of variation in the costs of health care services. Those who had reported improvement in their health status during the preceding year were more frequent users of social care services. Low informal support, poor functional status and poor instrumental activities of daily living, living at a residential home, and living alone were associated with higher social services expenditure. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed municipality-level variation in the utilization of social services, whereas health care services provided for frail elderly people seem to be highly equitable across municipalities. Another important finding was that the utilization of social and health services were connected. Those who reported improvement in their health status during the preceding year were more frequently also using social services. This result suggests that if municipalities continue to limit the provision of support services only for those who are in the highest need, this saving in the social sector may, in the long run, result in increased costs of health care.

Health care costs associated with gestational diabetes mellitus among high-risk women--results from a randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: The costs of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) screening have been frequently reported, but total GDM-related health care costs compared to the health care costs of women without GDM have not been reported. The aim of this study was to analyse GDM-related health care costs among women with an elevated risk of GDM. METHODS: The study was based on a cluster-randomised GDM prevention trial (N = 848) carried out at maternity clinics, combined with data from the Finnish Medical Birth Register and Care Registers for Social Welfare and Health Care. Costs of outpatient visits to primary and secondary care, cost of inpatient hospital care before and after delivery, the use of insulin, delivery costs and babies' stay in the neonatal intensive care unit were analysed. Women who developed GDM were compared to those who were not diagnosed with GDM. RESULTS: Total mean health care costs adjusted for age, body mass index and education were 25.1% higher among women diagnosed with GDM (€6,432 vs. €5,143, p < 0.001) than among women without GDM. The cost of inpatient visits was 44% higher and neonatal intensive care unit use was 49% higher in the GDM group than among women without GDM. The delivery costs were the largest single component in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: A confirmed GDM diagnosis was associated with a significant increase in total health care costs. Effective lifestyle counselling by primary health care providers may offer a means of reducing the high costs of secondary care.

Use and distribution of rehabilitation services: a register linkage study in one hospital district area in Finland.

This study focuses on a large set of rehabilitation services used between 2004 and 2005 in one hospital district area in Finland. The rehabilitation system consists of several subsystems. This complex system is suggested to produce arbitrary rehabilitation services. Despite the criticisms against the system during decades, no attempts have been made to study the performance of the system as a whole. Register data from several subsystems were linked to study the use and characteristics of rehabilitation services and users. Data consisted of 10 153 persons. We analysed differences in rehabilitation service use between age and sex groups and municipalities. Totally, 5.4% of the population used rehabilitation services in the studied 2 years. Medical rehabilitation was the most common type, users' mean age was 52.6 years, and 52.2% were women. Remarkable differences were detected between municipalities in usage rates in all rehabilitation types. The size of the population in home municipality had a varying relation to utilization in different rehabilitation types. We found differences in the service use within age groups, sex or home municipality. This study cannot rule out the possibility that these differences indicated inequitable distribution of services or whether they are explained by different needs.

Municipal variation in health and social service use in the last 2 years of life among old people.

AIMS: To describe and analyse municipal differences in health and social service use among old people in the last 2 years of life. METHODS: The data were derived from national registers. All those who died in 2002 or 2003 at the age of ≥ 70 years were included except those who lived in very small municipalities. The services included were different types of hospitals, long-term care, and home care. The variation in service use was described by coefficients of variation (CV). To analyse local differences, three-level (individual, municipal, and regional) binary logistic and Poisson regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: A total of 67,027 decedents from 315 municipalities in 20 hospital districts were included. There was considerable variation in service use between residents of different municipalities, especially in the types of hospital used. Of the individual-level variables age and use of other services were associated (p < 0.05) with use of all services. Of the municipal-level variables, indicators describing the service pattern in the municipality were associated with use of all services and average age of decedents with most of the services. The presence of a university hospital in the hospital district increased the probability of using university and general hospitals, but among the users increased days in university hospital and decreased days in general hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable differences between municipalities exist, but these cannot be exhaustively explained. Behind the differences are probably factors which are difficult to describe and quantify, such as historical developments and political realities.

Impact of HPV vaccination on young women's quality of life - a five year follow-up study.

OBJECTIVES: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines protect against infections/conditions which potentially adversely affect quality of life (QoL). We investigated the impact of HPV infection on QoL five years post vaccination in 22-23 year-old women and a group of controls. METHODS: Participants were 22-23 year-old women who had either previously been enrolled in the FUTURE II trial of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine in Finland at age 16-17 (n = 1749), or were unvaccinated females in the birth cohort above those eligible for participation in FUTURE II in Finland (n = 6534). Participants were sent a questionnaire consisting of two generic QoL instruments (RAND36 and EQ VAS). RESULTS: We received and analysed 4438 valid responses. Unadjusted mean outcomes of the different QoL measures (RAND36 domains and EQ VAS) were similar. Multiple regression analysis showed that reporting current or previous genital warts, or cytological abnormalities, was significantly associated with reduced QoL. There were no significant differences between the HPV-vaccinated group and the placebo or unvaccinated groups. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnoses of genital warts or of cervical anomalies have a significant impact on QoL. The QoL of women who received the placebo or no vaccine was no lower, five years later, than that of those who received the active HPV vaccine.

Economic evaluation of a geriatric rehabilitation programme: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Cost-effectiveness of a geriatric rehabilitation programme. DESIGN: Economic evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial. METHODS: A total of 741 subjects with progressively decreasing functional ability and unspecific morbidity were randomly assigned to either an inpatient rehabilitation programme (intervention group) or standard care (control group). The difference between the mean cost per person for 12 months' care in the rehabilitation and control groups (incremental cost) and the ratio between incremental cost and effectiveness were calculated. Clinical outcomes were functional ability (Functional Independence Measure (FIM(TM))) and health-related quality of life (15D score). RESULTS: The FIM(TM) score decreased by 3.41 (standard deviation 6.7) points in intervention group and 4.35 (standard deviation 8.0) in control group (p = 0.0987). The decrease in the 15D was equal in both groups. The mean incremental cost of adding rehabilitation to standard care was 3111 euros per person. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for FIMTM did not show any clinically significant change, and the rehabilitation was more costly than standard care. A cost-effectiveness acceptability curve suggests that if decision-makers were willing to pay 4000 euros for a 1-point improvement in FIMTM, the rehabilitation would be cost-effective with 70% certainty. CONCLUSION: The rehabilitation programme was not cost-effective compared with standard care, and further development of outpatient protocols may be advisable.

Variation in use and costs of primary health and social services in mental health or drinking problems.

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric inpatient hospital care was cut dramatically in Finland in recent last decades, and patients were assigned to care in the community. Consequently, the burden of care shifted from hospital districts to municipalities, which have considerable autonomy in organizing health and social services. These changes probably created locally differing service patterns in mental health care. AIMS OF THE STUDY: We assessed the use of primary social and health care due to mental health and drinking problems and the resulting costs. We also examined differences between municipalities, and analysed factors which may be associated with the variation in use and costs of these services. METHODS: Data were collected in five municipalities in Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Finland, using a short questionnaire containing questions on e.g. the reason for the visit, time spent during the visit, and of the client's psychosocial functioning (Global Assessment of Function Scale, GAF). The questionnaire was completed at all individual clients' visits to these services during a two-week period in December 2003, by professionals (MD's, nurses, social workers etc.) who worked in either local health or social services. Descriptive statistics and several regression techniques were used to describe and analyse factors associated with the use and costs of services. RESULTS: During the study period, altogether 25,738 visits took place, the total number of visitors being 10,265. Of these visitors, 1,360 had mental health or drinking problems totalling to 4,471 visits. Most of these visits took place to mental health clinics or were visits made as home care. The average cost of mental health work in primary care per client was 29.8 in two weeks, ranging between municipalities from 29 to 52 . Client's poor GAF and being a recipient of home care were associated with higher costs of services. Even after controlling for visitor-related factors, use and costs of services were associated with the local service patterns. DISCUSSION: The response rate could not be calculated for each service producer; however, we estimated that this varied between 50% and 100%. Therefore our results represent this visitor population. However, our limited data did not allow any analysis of municipality-related factors which might explain the role of service patterns in costs and use of services. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVISION AND USE: A considerable proportion of total use and costs of local welfare services are due to mental health problems. The differences between municipal service patterns cause variation in total costs of care of mental disorders. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICIES: Some capacity in local primary services is allocated to mental health problems, thus enabling a shift from institutional care toward community care. However, varying local patterns may cause a risk to unequal access to mental health services. IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: In future studies it is important to analyse the properties of local service patterns which influence appropriate use and optimal costs of care.

The cost-effectiveness of integrated home care and discharge practice for home care patients.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of integrated home care and discharge practice (IHCaD-practice) on the use of services and cost-effectiveness. METHODS: A cluster randomised trial with Finnish municipalities (n=22) as the units of randomisation. At baseline the sample included 668 home care patients aged 65 years or over. Data consisted of interviews (discharge, 3-week, 6-month) and care registers. The intervention was a generic prototype of care/case management-practice that was tailored to each municipality's needs. The effects were evaluated in terms of the use and cost of health and social care services. Unit costs of services were calculated. Cost-effectiveness was calculated for changes in health-related quality of life using the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) and the EQ-5D instruments. All analyses were based on intention-to-treat. RESULTS: At 6-month follow-ups, the patients in the trail group used less home care, doctor and laboratory services than patients in the non-trial group. Similar differences between groups were found regarding costs. According to the NHP instrument, the IHCaD-practice showed higher cost-effectiveness compared to the old practice. No evidence for cost-effectiveness was found with the EQ-5D instrument. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that the IHCaD-practice may be a cost-effective alternative to usual care.