Economic Profile of Biochemical Tests in Rheumatic Disease / 대한류마티스학회지

ABSTRACT

Developments in science have brought about progress in automated chemistry analyzers, which have increased the capability of testing various items in short time period. This has resulted in grouping several test items into a profile. However, the profiles generally used can include some unnecessary tests for a specific patient group. Therefore, selecting the right tests for a profile of a particular patient group is a prerequisite for cost-effective medical care. The present study set out to develop an economic chemistry profile in patients suspected of having a rheumatic disease. The study included 60,302 patients who attended the Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases between June 1995 and May 2000. A total 21 different chemistry tests were performed by the automated chemistry analyzer (Hitachi-747, Hitachi Inc., Tokyo, Japan). RESULTS: A total of 758,305 chemistry tests were performed, an average of 12.6 tests per patient. The tests relatively less commonly ordered were direct bilirubin, gamma glutamyl transpeptidase, iron, TIBC. The percentage of abnormal results of total protein, albumin, total calcium, creatinine and total bilirubin were less than 5%. Therefore, these tests should be eliminated from routine testing. CONCLUSION: An economic chemistry profile for rheumatology outpatients would include alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, blood urea nitrogen, total cholesterol, creatine kinase, glucose, HDL-cholesterol, lactate dehydrogenase, triglyceride, uric acid. This would result in a 46.4% decrease in cost of biochemical test.