OBJECTIVES: 

To determine the actual cost and drivers of the cost of an extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (E-CPR) care cycle.

PERSPECTIVE: 

A time-driven activity-based costing study conducted from a healthcare provider perspective.

SETTING: 

A quaternary care ICU providing around-the-clock E-CPR service for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) in Australia.

METHODS: 

The E-CPR care cycle was defined as the time from initiating E-CPR to hospital discharge or death of the patient. Detailed process maps with discrete steps and probabilistic decision nodes accounting for the complex trajectories of E-CPR patients were developed. Data about clinical and nonclinical resources and timing of activities was collected multiple times for each process . Total direct costs were calculated using the time estimates and unit costs per resource for all clinical and nonclinical resources. The total direct costs were combined with indirect costs to obtain the total cost of E-CPR.

RESULTS: 

From 10 E-CPR care cycles observed during the study period, a minimum of 3 observations were obtained per process. The E-CPR care cycle’s mean (95% CI) cost was $75,014 ($66,209–83,222). Initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and ECMO management constituted 18% of costs. The ICU management (35%) and surgical costs (20%) were the primary cost determinants. IHCA had a higher mean (95% CI) cost than OHCA ($87,940 [75,372–100,570] vs. 62,595 [53,994–71,890], p < 0.01), mainly because of the increased survival and ICU length of stay of patients with IHCA. The mean cost for each E-CPR survivor was $129,503 ($112,422–147,224).

CONCLUSIONS: 

Significant costs are associated with E-CPR for refractory cardiac arrest. The cost of E-CPR for IHCA was higher compared with the cost of E-CPR for OHCA. The major determinants of the E-CPR costs were ICU and surgical costs. These data can inform the cost-effectiveness analysis of E-CPR in the future.