Estudio de factibilidad para la implementación del servicio de oxigenoterapia domiciliaria para pacientes oxigeno dependientes y oxigeno requirentes afiliados al IESS que residan en la ciudad de Cuenca.

Abstract

There are patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other serious respiratory diseases who are cared for through oxygen therapy service providers in Ecuador. In the cities of Guayaquil and Quito, these services have had a sustained and growing development, creating an opportunity for private companies that provide services to provide them at home through the health network of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security I.E.S.S. We analyzed the oxygen therapy service that was offered to all patients of the I.E.S.S. provided by the Hospital de Especialidades José Carrasco Arteaga in the region of Cuenca. From the analysis of the patients that receive the service, technical parameters such as the location, dosage, and daily use of oxygen that patients were defined to determine three possible financial scenarios that could happen if a private company attend the patients and provides them the oxygen therapy service at their home. These three stages are based on: 1) the current parameters that the hospital used to determine who receives the service, 2) the current and potential patients based on monthly oxygen consumption, dosages and number of 6 m³ cylinder refills required per month, and 3) The conditions of stage two plus a 20% growth that hospital managers aspire according to the interviews carried out.