OBJECTIVES : The purpose of this study is to analyze the status of claims of implanted left ventricular assist device treatment after listing in NHI and to use it as basic data for future policy-making.

METHODS : The National Health Insurance Claims Data (NHICD) for the period 2018–2019. We performed analyses to identify characteristics of age and sickness of subjects, and the costs after listing health insurance were divided by insurance cost, co-payment, and treatment material cost.

RESULTS : A total of 62 patients were treated for LVAD for 1 year from September 28, 2018. As of November 2019, 6 patients (9.7%) died among the 62 patients who received procedure, and the patients took about 100 days to die after end of the procedure. The 77.4% (n=48) were accounted for male patients in the total number of subjects. Moreover, Analysis of major illnesses that patients claimed when receiving LVAD, showed that the dilated cardiomyopathy was the highest, followed by 17.7% of unspecified heart failures. In the case of cost, the patient's out-of-pocket were about 7,600 dollars per patient, and the total cost was about 162,000 dollars. The out-of-pocket was accounted for 5 % of total costs. Among them, the cost of the material for treatment was 70%, which cost $ 113,800.

CONCLUSIONS : As a result of analyzing the claims for one year, 62 patients received the LVAD. The proportion of male patients was significantly higher, indicating that there is a needs for additional management of male patients. Moreover, it was conceivable that the cost burden of patients decreased drastically due to the listing of health insurance. This study has limitations in analyzing health insurance claims data, not real world data, but it is meaningful in that it is first attempt to analyze the claims status of LVAD after the procedure is registered in national health insurance.