Researchers share findings at Pediatric Academic Society (PAS) International Conference in Toronto 2018

Drs Kim Dalziel (above left) and Li Huang (above right) recently shared pediatric health economic research at the PAS meeting in Toronto attended by over 8000 participants. Dr Dalziel presented a platform presentation in the Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) session showcasing recent research looking at trends in health care expenditure for CSHCN. The research on a US dataset highlighted rising costs for CSHCNs largely driven by increases in cost rather than volume of health service use. She further identified large disparities in health care spending according to ethnicity and income. This work has formed part of her 2017/18 Harkness Fellowship with the Commonwealth Fund based in Michigan.

Dr Huang’s platform presentation in the Health Care Services Pediatric Research session shared findings of an economic evaluation for home care versus hospital intravenous antibiotic treatment for children with moderate to severe cellulitis. The study was performed in collaboration with leading researchers from the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and found that treatment at home was cheaper and more effective with a large degree of certainty.