Patient Characteristics and Costs Associated With COVID-19-Related Medical Care Among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries.
Ann Intern Med
; 174(8): 1101-1109, 2021 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1368019
ABSTRACT
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.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Direct Service Costs
/
Medicare
/
Hospital Costs
/
Ambulatory Care
/
COVID-19
/
Hospitalization
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Ann Intern Med
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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