Study: Treating sepsis costs more than heart attacks and heart failure combined

Sepsis leads to the same amount of readmissions as heart attacks and congestive heart failure, but the cost of sepsis treatment is more than both those conditions combined, according to a new study published in Critical Care Medicine.

Led by UCLA researchers, the study examined admissions for adults 18 and older for sepsis at all California hospitals from 2009 to 2011, and during the same period for congestive heart failure and heart attacks. The estimated annual cost of sepsis-related readmissions in California during that time was $500 million, as compared to $229 million for congestive heart failure and $142 million for heart attacks.

Read the study abstract.