Patient Characteristics and Costs Associated With COVID-19-Related Medical Care Among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries.

BACKGROUND: New cases of COVID-19 continue to occur daily in the United States, and the need for medical treatments continues to grow. Knowledge of the direct medical costs of COVID-19 treatments is limited. OBJECTIVE: To examine the characteristics of older adults with COVID-19 and their costs for COVID-19-related medical care. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study. SETTING: Medical claims for Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries. PATIENTS: Medicare FFS beneficiaries aged 65 years or older who had a COVID-19-related medical encounter during April through December 2020. MEASUREMENTS: Patient characteristics and direct medical costs of COVID-19-related hospitalizations and outpatient visits. RESULTS: Among 28.1 million Medicare FFS beneficiaries, 1 181 127 (4.2%) sought COVID-19-related medical care. Among these patients, 23.0% had an inpatient stay and 4.2% died during hospitalization. The majority of the patients were female (57.0%), non-Hispanic White (79.6%), and residents of an urban county (77.2%). Medicare FFS costs for COVID-19-related medical care were $6.3 billion; 92.6% of costs were for hospitalizations. The mean hospitalization cost was $21 752, and the mean length of stay was 9.2 days; hospitalization cost and length of stay were higher if the patient needed a ventilator ($49 441 and 17.1 days) or died ($32 015 and 11.3 days). The mean cost per outpatient visit was $164. Patients aged 75 years or older were more likely to be hospitalized, but their hospitalizations were associated with lower costs than for younger patients. Male sex and non-White race/ethnicity were associated with higher probability of being hospitalized and higher medical costs. LIMITATION: Results are based on Medicare FFS patients. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in substantial disease and economic burden among older Americans, particularly those of non-White race/ethnicity. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Out-of-pocket medical expenses compared across five years for patients with one of five common cancers in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Patient medical out-of-pocket expenses are thought to be rising worldwide yet data describing trends over time is scant. We evaluated trends of out-of-pocket expenses for patients in Australia with one of five major cancers in the first-year after diagnosis. METHODS: Participants from the QSKIN Sun and Health prospective cohort Study with a histologically confirmed breast, colorectal, lung, melanoma, or prostate cancer diagnosed between 2011 and 2015 were included (n = 1965). Medicare claims data on out-of-pocket expenses were analysed using a two-part model adjusted for year of diagnosis, health insurance status, age and education level. Fisher price and quantity indexes were also calculated to assess prices and volumes separately. RESULTS: On average, patients with cancer diagnosed in 2015 spent 70% more out-of-pocket on direct medical expenses than those diagnosed in 2011. Out-of-pocket expenses increased significantly for patients with breast cancer (mean AU$2513 in 2011 to AU$6802 in 2015). Out-of-pocket expenses were higher overall for individuals with private health insurance. For prostate cancer, expenses increased for those without private health insurance over time (mean AU$1586 in 2011 to AU$4748 in 2014) and remained stable for those with private health insurance (AU$4397 in 2011 to AU$5623 in 2015). There were progressive increases in prices and quantities of medical services for patients with melanoma, breast and lung cancer. For all cancers, prices increased for medicines and doctor attendances but fluctuated for other medical services. CONCLUSION: Out-of-pocket expenses for patients with cancer have increased substantially over time. Such increases were more pronounced for women with breast cancer and those without private health insurance. Increased out-of-pocket expenses arose from both higher prices and higher volumes of health services but differ by cancer type. Further efforts to monitor patient out-of-pocket costs and prevent health inequities are required.

Longitudinal Trends in the Direct Costs and Health Care Utilization Ascribable to Inflammatory Bowel Disease in the Biologic Era: Results From a Canadian Population-Based Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing. The total direct costs of IBD have not been assessed on a population-wide level in the era of biologic therapy. DESIGN: We identified all persons with IBD in Manitoba between 2005 and 2015, with each matched to 10 controls on age, sex, and area of residence. We enumerated all hospitalizations, outpatient visits and prescription medications including biologics, and their associated direct costs. Total and per capita annual IBD-attributable costs and health care utilization (HCU) were determined by taking the difference between the costs/HCU accrued by an IBD case and their controls. Generalized linear modeling was used to evaluate trends in direct costs and Poisson regression for trends in HCU. RESULTS: The number of people with IBD in Manitoba increased from 6,323 to 7,603 between 2005 and 2015. The total per capita annual costs attributable to IBD rose from $3,354 in 2005 to $7,801 in 2015, primarily driven by an increase in per capita annual anti-tumor necrosis factor costs, which rose from $181 in 2005 to $5,270 in 2015. There was a significant decline in inpatient costs for CD ($99 ± 25/yr. P < 0.0001), but not for ulcerative colitis ($8 increase ±$18/yr, P = 0.63). DISCUSSION: The direct health care costs attributable to IBD have more than doubled over the 10 years between 2005 and 2015, driven mostly by increasing expenditures on biological medications. IBD-attributable hospitalization costs have declined modestly over time for persons with CD, although no change was seen for patients with ulcerative colitis.

Projection of the burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Germany: a demographic modelling approach to estimate the direct medical excess costs from 2010 to 2040.

AIM: To model the future costs of Type 2 diabetes in Germany, taking into account demographic changes, disease dynamics and undiagnosed cases. METHODS: Using a time-discrete Markov model, the prevalence of diabetes (diagnosed/undiagnosed) between 2010 and 2040 was estimated and linked with cost weights. Demographic, epidemiological and economic scenarios were modelled. Inputs to the model included the official population forecasts, prevalence, incidence and mortality rates, proportions of undiagnosed cases, health expenditure and cost ratios of an individual with (diagnosed/undiagnosed) diabetes to an individual without diabetes. The outcomes were the case numbers and associated annual direct medical excess costs of Type 2 diabetes from a societal perspective in 2010€. RESULTS: In the base case, the case numbers of diabetes will grow from 5 million (2.8 million diagnosed) in 2010 to a maximum of 7.9 million (4.6 million diagnosed) in 2037. From 2010 to 2040, the prevalence rate amonf individuals ≥40 years old will increase from 10.5 to 16.3%. The annual costs of diabetes will increase by 79% from €11.8 billion in 2010 to €21.1 billion in 2040 (€9.5 billion to €17.6 billion for diagnosed cases). CONCLUSIONS: The projected increase in costs will be attributable to demographic changes and disease dynamics, and will be enhanced by higher per capita costs with advancing age. Better epidemiological and economic data regarding diabetes care in Germany would improve the forecasting accuracy. The method used in the present study can anticipate the effects of alternative policy scenarios and can easily be adapted to other chronic diseases.

[Robotic surgery]. / Robotsebészet.

Due to the fast spread of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, surgical procedures have been changed essentially. The new techniques applied for both abdominal and thoracic procedures provided the possibility for minimally invasive access with all its advantages. Robots - originally developed for industrial applications - were retrofitted for laparoscopic procedures. The currently prevailing robot-assisted surgery is ergonomically more advantageous for the surgeon, as well as for the patient through the more precise preparative activity thanks to the regained 3D vision. The gradual decrease of costs of robotic surgical systems and development of new generations of minimally invasive devices may lead to substantial changes in routine surgical procedures.

Economic burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to estimate the direct medical costs of COPD in two public health clusters in Singapore from 2005 to 2009. METHODS: Patients aged 40 years and over, who had been diagnosed with COPD, were identified in a Chronic Disease Management Data-mart. Annual utilization of health services in inpatient, specialist outpatient, emergency department and primary care settings was extracted from the Chronic Disease Management Data-mart. Trends in attributable costs, proportions of costs and health-care utilization were analyzed across each level of care. A weighted attribution approach was used to allocate costs to each health-care utilization episode, depending on the relevance of co-morbidities. RESULTS: The mean total cost was approximately $9.9 million per year. Inpatient admissions were the major cost driver, contributing an average of $7.2 million per year. The proportion of hospitalization costs declined from 75% in 2005 to 68% in 2009. Based on the 5-year average, attendances at primary care clinics, emergency department and specialist clinics contributed 3%, 5% and 17%, respectively, of overall COPD costs. On average, 42% of the total cost burden was incurred for the medical management of COPD. The share of cost incurred for the treatment of conditions related and unrelated to COPD were 29% and 26%, respectively, of the total average costs. CONCLUSIONS: COPD is likely to represent a significant burden to the public health system in most countries. The findings are particularly relevant to understanding the allocation of health-care resources and informing appropriate cost containment strategies.

Laparoscopic versus open colectomy for patients with American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) classifications 3 and 4: the minimally invasive approach is associated with significantly quicker recovery and reduced costs.

BACKGROUND: Conceivably, the benefits of earlier recovery associated with a minimally invasive technique used in laparoscopic colectomy (LC) may be amplified for patients with comorbid disease. The dearth of evidence supporting the safety of laparoscopy for these patients led to a comparison of outcomes between LC and open colectomy (OC) for patients with American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) classifications 3 and 4. METHODS: Data for all ASA 3 and 4 patients who underwent elective LC were reviewed from a prospectively maintained laparoscopic database. The patients who underwent LC were matched with OC patients by age, gender, diagnosis, year, and type of surgery. Estimated blood loss, operation time, time to return of bowel function, length of hospital stay, readmission rate, and 30-day complication and mortality rates were compared using chi-square, Fisher's exact, and Wilcoxon tests as appropriate. A p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: In this study, 231 LCs were matched with 231 OCs. The median age of the patients was 68 years, and 234 (51%) of the patients were male. There were 44 (19%) conversions from LC to OC. More patients in the OC group had undergone previous major laparotomy (5 vs. 15%; p < 0.001). Estimated blood loss, return of bowel function, length of hospital stay, and total direct costs were decreased in the LC group. Wound infection was significantly greater with OC (p = 0.02). When patients with previous major laparotomy were excluded, the two groups had similar overall morbidity. The other benefits of LC, however, persisted. CONCLUSION: The findings show that LC is a safe option for patients with a high ASA classification. The LC approach is associated with faster postoperative recovery, lower morbidity rates, and lower hospital costs than the OC approach.

Change of plans. Squeezed by soaring medical costs and other demands for their revenue, providers are continuing to sell off their health plans.

More systems are deciding to get out of the health insurance business, pushed by higher medical costs and increasing demands for construction and IT projects. It's a climate that can be tough for smaller organizations. "The system needs a very good demographic and a strong balance sheet to support both the provider side and the health plan side," says Eva Sverdlova, left, an analyst at A.M. Best.

Understanding Costs of Care in the Operating Room.

Importance: Increasing value requires improving quality or decreasing costs. In surgery, estimates for the cost of 1 minute of operating room (OR) time vary widely. No benchmark exists for the cost of OR time, nor has there been a comprehensive assessment of what contributes to OR cost. Objectives: To calculate the cost of 1 minute of OR time, assess cost by setting and facility characteristics, and ascertain the proportion of costs that are direct and indirect. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis examined annual financial disclosure documents from all comparable short-term general and specialty care hospitals in California from fiscal year (FY) 2005 to FY2014 (N = 3044; FY2014, n = 302). The analysis focused on 2 revenue centers: (1) surgery and recovery and (2) ambulatory surgery. Main Outcomes and Measures: Mean cost of 1 minute of OR time, stratified by setting (inpatient vs ambulatory), teaching status, and hospital ownership. The proportion of cost attributable to indirect and direct expenses was identified; direct expenses were further divided into salary, benefits, supplies, and other direct expenses. Results: In FY2014, a total of 175 of 302 facilities (57.9%) were not for profit, 78 (25.8%) were for profit, and 49 (16.2%) were government owned. Thirty facilities (9.9%) were teaching hospitals. The mean (SD) cost for 1 minute of OR time across California hospitals was $37.45 ($16.04) in the inpatient setting and $36.14 ($19.53) in the ambulatory setting (P = .65). There were no differences in mean expenditures when stratifying by ownership or teaching status except that teaching hospitals had lower mean (SD) expenditures than nonteaching hospitals in the inpatient setting ($29.88 [$9.06] vs $38.29 [$16.43]; P = .006). Direct expenses accounted for 54.6% of total expenses ($20.40 of $37.37) in the inpatient setting and 59.1% of total expenses ($20.90 of $35.39) in the ambulatory setting. Wages and benefits accounted for approximately two-thirds of direct expenses (inpatient, $14.00 of $20.40; ambulatory, $14.35 of $20.90), with nonbillable supplies accounting for less than 10% of total expenses (inpatient, $2.55 of $37.37; ambulatory, $3.33 of $35.39). From FY2005 to FY2014, expenses in the OR have increased faster than the consumer price index and medical consumer price index. Teaching hospitals had slower growth in costs than nonteaching hospitals. Over time, the proportion of expenses dedicated to indirect costs has increased, while the proportion attributable to salary and supplies has decreased. Conclusions and Relevance: The mean cost of OR time is $36 to $37 per minute, using financial data from California's short-term general and specialty hospitals in FY2014. These statewide data provide a generalizable benchmark for the value of OR time. Furthermore, understanding the composition of costs will allow those interested in value improvement to identify high-yield targets.

Impact of patient characteristics, complications, and facility volume on the costs and time of cardiac catheterization and coronary angioplasty in 70 catheterization laboratories.

Although over 1 million procedures are performed in cardiac catheterization laboratories (CCLs) annually, little comparative data exist on costs or resource use in these settings. In this study, data from 70 CCLs were used to profile CCL times and total direct costs for 2 high-volume procedures: left heart catheterization (LHC) and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) with or without stent placement. In total, 70,677 consecutive patient examinations for a 12-month period from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 1998 were analyzed. For LHC mean total direct costs averaged $306, whereas for PTCA catheterization laboratory costs averaged $3,172. The average total times for these procedures were 63 and 108 minutes, respectively. Seventy-two percent of the PTCA patients underwent coronary stenting with an associated incremental cost of $1,244. By multivariate linear regression, baseline patient characteristics such as age, gender, and clinical factors had little impact on total time and total costs. The major determinants of CCL time and cost were procedural factors (e.g., number and type of interventions) and in-lab complications, including profound hypotension, abrupt vessel closure, and emergency bypass surgery. Using facility procedure volume as a proxy for potential economies of scale, we found no relation between CCL volume and total direct CCL costs. There did appear to be a significant inverse relation between facility volume and total procedural time with CCLs that performed the highest volumes of LHC and PTCA procedures saving an average of 5 to 9 minutes per procedure. These findings may be useful in defining specific time and cost benchmarks for these commonly performed procedures and serve to underscore the critical role of reducing complications in both quality improvement and cost-saving efforts.

Pharmacoeconomics of schizophrenia in the 21st century.

During the next century-if not before-a variety of issues associated with mental health care in the United States need to be addressed and resolved nationwide, including securing full parity for patients with psychiatric disorders, improving the overall medical health of psychiatric patients, establishing the effectiveness as well as the efficacy of new drugs and educating health care providers about new drugs and new uses for older drugs, and using all costs to evaluate new therapeutic strategies or medications. The following discussion covers some of the major findings from studies conducted in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, touches on some of the areas mentioned above, and is intended to serve as a springboard for exchanges among professionals in the health care community who care for psychiatric patients.

Underinsurance for severe mental illness.

Mental health care for the severely mentally ill in the United States is financed by a combination of public and private funds. Both public and private health insurance programs handle mental illness differently than they do other illnesses. This article documents uninsurance and underinsurance for severe mental illness in the United States based on studies conducted during the last decade. The relationship between private insurance and public assistance is analyzed, and major arguments around equality in insurance coverage for severe mental illness are examined. Alternatives for reducing uninsurance and underinsurance for severe mental illness in order to avoid undertreatment are discussed.

Costs and benefits of day treatment with community care for schizophrenic patients.

The feasibility of day treatment with community care for schizophrenic patients was tested by means of a longitudinal randomized experiment with 34 experimentals and 16 controls: 38 percent could be treated satisfactorily in a day program that included a very active ambulatory service. The new approach did not improve prognosis with respect to psychiatric symptomatology, social role disabilities, or number of readmissions during the first year of followup. Total cost of treatment was less for day-treatment patients than for ordinary clinical patients.

Cost evaluation of chronic schizophrenic patients during the first 3 years after the first contact.

This study was performed in Italy, where mental health care is largely provided by the Government-financed Italian National Health Service (INHS). Since 1978, outpatient services and psychiatric beds in general hospitals have replaced psychiatric hospitals, which have not been permitted to admit new patients. The direct costs of three cohorts of 20 chronic schizophrenic patients were evaluated according to incidence data for a 3-year period. The analysis focused in particular on services provided by public institutions. The average cost per patient during this period following first contact-admission was $9,612 (1989 U.S. dollars), which is low compared to costs in other countries. The cost distribution between inpatient and outpatient services was different from other studies and showed that, in Italy, hospital expenses covered approximately 50 percent of total direct INHS costs. The length of time between onset and first contact-admission showed a significant association (p less than 0.01) with INHS costs during the 3 years. A significant association (p less than 0.05) also was found between the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) global symptom "delusions" evaluated after 5 to 7 years and the average INHS costs during the 3 years of the study.

Evaluating effectiveness and cost of community care for schizophrenic patients.

The two main types of mental health services research are (1) the evaluation of the mental health sector within comprehensive systems of health care and (2) the evaluation of individual mental health facilities or types of care. Depending on the information systems available, the difficulties of evaluating complex systems of care can be partially obviated by using descriptive approaches. Structural quality can be assessed by structural indices, the functioning of a system by monitoring utilization, and the overall effectiveness of a national mental health care system roughly by health indicators. Causal analyses of effectiveness are practical when they are based on individual facilities or types of care, which can be studied as isolated systems on the basis of intervention and outcome variables. Reliable and reproducible results can be achieved only if a standardized intervention is used or if the intervention and its objectives are described clearly, the output indicators are defined in terms of identifiable and repeatable operations. The assets and liabilities of quasi-experimental designs and three types of naturalistic approaches will be discussed. When the cost of a new type of care is compared with the cost of traditional mental health care, the section of the population actually served out of the total of patients with comparable needs for care should be considered. Results from the authors' studies will show how the neglect of this epidemiological aspect can lead to false statements.

The cost of schizophrenia revisited.

This article discusses two approaches to costing disease and summarizes an incidence-based costing of schizophrenia using 1975 data. Because the presentation of schizophrenia may have changed in the last 16 years, the effects of three possible changes--a reduction in incidence, a transfer to treatment in the community, and an improvement in prognosis--are all entered into the 1975 model and the changes in costs are noted. The decrease in costs is greatest presuming a reduction in incidence, moderate given an improvement in prognosis, and relatively minor given the economies in direct treatment costs likely to follow a transfer to community treatment. Nevertheless, because community treatment might also be associated with an improvement in prognosis, the social issues for medicine implicit in the transfer from hospital to community treatment are discussed.

Costs, needs, and outcomes.

There is a tendency in discussions of mental health policy and psychiatric practice to talk of the cost of a treatment, facility, or policy and to ignore variations. These variations can be considerable, which alone suggests they should not be overlooked, and they can be explored and perhaps exploited to improve the delivery of services. This article describes a theoretical framework for the examination of cost differences, applies it to a particularly rich data base on people with long-term mental health problems moving from hospital to the community, and uses the empirical evidence to address four key policy questions. The study finds encouragingly strong positive associations between costs, needs, and outcomes. It also uncovers significant cost-effectiveness differences between the public and private sectors and between community accommodation types.

Cost-effectiveness of alternative approaches in treating severely mentally ill in California.

Given the rising costs of health care and the decrease in public expenditures on mental health care, policy-makers and program managers must identify cost-effective approaches for treating severely mentally ill patients. During the last year, there have been two major cost-effectiveness studies implemented in California. One initiated by Santa Clara County and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health compares the cost-effectiveness of two existing community-based treatment and case-management approaches. The other study, which compares the cost-effectiveness of capitation funding of services for the severely mentally ill, was initiated by the State of California and is currently being implemented in two counties. This article describes the cost-effectiveness evaluations of these two programs and provides preliminary results of the case-management program.

An analysis of hospital costs by cost center, 1971 through 1978.

Hospital cost analyses generally have not used costs broken down by hospital department or function due to the unavailability of appropriate data. The Medicare Cost Reports display direct cost by cost center, and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) funded a project to abstract, edit, and categorize these data from a sample of 457 hospitals into meaningful groups. The author used the resulting data base to analyze trends in hospital costs, with cross tabulations by a hospital's teaching status, type of control, and bed size class, from 1971 through 1978. The author also used this data base to preliminarily assess whether introduction of the Medicare Section 223 reimbursement limits altered cost center growth trends. The study found that the largest cost increases occurred among Ancillary Services. It also found slightly higher than average increases in Inpatient Services (concentrated in Special Care Units), and General Services increased at a below average rate. Outpatient Service costs escalated rapidly in absolute terms but rose much more slowly in per unit terms. The fastest growing cost quantity in the study was Other Ancillary Services, a miscellaneous group encompassing many of the new advanced technology services, which increased at a rate of 24 percent per year between 1973 and 1978. The study found costs per unit of output to be positively associated and bed size across all cost center categories, including General Services, where some evidence of economics of scale might have been expected. The study found no evidence that the Section 223 limits affected cost growth longitudinally, but an understanding of the impact of these limits will require considerably more study.