Costs of epilepsy in an intermediate care facility for persons with mentalretardation

Epilepsy is a significant comorbid condition in institutionalized persons w ith developmental disabilities and may contribute significant additional co sts. This study was conducted to provide an estimate of the costs of epilep sy from the institutional perspective. Costs were measured retrospectively for 50 persons with epilepsy and 50 persons without epilepsy matched by sev erity of developmental disability. A time and motion study was employed to assign opportunity costs to documented nursing and physician activities. Tw o separate methods of attribution were used and incremental costs attributa ble to epilepsy were found to be approximately $825 and $918 per person ove r a 6-month period. The following categories accounted for costs: personnel (47.0%), drug (39.6%), hospitalization (9.4%), and laboratories/procedures (4.0%). Results are useful for describing the economic burden of epilepsy.