Racial variation in healthcare resource utilization and expenditures in knee/hip osteoarthritis patients: a retrospective analysis of a Medicaid population.

Higher healthcare costs were observed in Black Medicaid patients with knee/hip osteoarthritis despite lower rates of inpatient admission. We observed these differences in this Medicaid population, where socioeconomic status is more homogeneous.Black patients had significantly higher healthcare costs compared to White patients and the difference persisted even after accounting for underlying differences in Black and White patients.Higher healthcare costs among Black patients were found in both the baseline and follow-up periods overall for all types of healthcare (hospitalizations, ER, office visit, other services).Higher hospitalization costs in Black patients were observed despite lower rates of hospitalizations in Black patients. These increased costs cannot be attributed to either longer or more frequent hospitalizations; no significant difference in either the length of stay or the number of hospitalizations was observed when comparing Black patients to White patients.