Spotlight: Tool to Estimate Patients Costs

The Tool to Estimate Patients' Costs can help to assess the impact of TB on the welfare of households and individuals. More specifically, it helps to estimate the costs that TB patients incur before and during diagnosis and during treatment. It also helps to gather information on health-seeking behavior patterns, individual and household income, coping behavior, socioeconomic situation, gender-related issues and the social impact of TB.

The Tool consists of a generic questionnaire designed to be adapted to local settings, a literature review, as well as guidelines on adaptation of the tool, interpretation of findings, socioeconomic indicators, methods and sampling and possible interventions. In addition, an Epi-Info data entry template, an Excel Summary sheet and an example Powerpoint how to present results are included.

The Tool can be downloaded as an pdf file and as separate documents. Please note that the data entry template is not MS Access, but Epi Info. Epi Info can be downloaded for free on the CDC Atlanta website.

For more information please contact Verena Mauch, mauchv@kncvtbc.nl at KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, The Hague, The Netherlands.

Links to tools

• 1_Introduction
• 2_Literature Review
• 3_Review SE Indicators
• 4_List of indicators to be measured
• 5_Questionnaire
• 6_Guidelines on Adaptation
• 7_Guidelines Methods, Sampling, Interviewer Training
• 8_Guidelines Interpretation of Results
• 9_Guidelines Interventions
• 10_Epi Info Data Entry Template
• 11_Results Summary Calculation Sheet
• 12_Example Presentation of Results
• Tool to estimate Patients' Costs

The Tool has been developed by TB CAP (KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, the World Health Organization Global Tuberculosis Programme and the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association) in consultation with many other organizations and individuals who have been working on TB patients' costs.