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Cardiac arrest

Expedited OHCA transport costs similar to standard

Healthcare costs of expedited transport compared with standard care following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: results from the EVIDENCE randomised controlled trial
Resuscitation · Added 30 April 2026

Greater Sydney costing analysis of expedited OHCA transport for possible ECPR versus standard care — overall health system costs were comparable, with higher costs when patients arrived during ECPR business hours.

Study type

Registry

Design

Prospective health system costing analysis alongside the EVIDENCE randomised trial in Greater Sydney

Participants

197 OHCA patients (102 expedited, 95 standard care)

Main finding

Mean costs per patient AUD$60,780 (expedited) vs $67,579 (standard care); difference -$6,799 (95% CI -$44,014 to $30,416), not significant; costs were $36,182 higher within ECPR hours (95% CI $1,554–72,918)

Caveat

Costing from a single trial in one system; costs estimated without formal economic evaluation of outcomes

Bottom line

Context only

Learning goal

Understand the health system costs involved in expedited transport decisions for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients.

More

• Topic: Cardiac arrest
• Daily scan: 30 April 2026

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