Mortality and costs associated with alcoholic hepatitis: A claims analysis of a commercially insured population.

Rising mortality in the United States due to alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and the dearth of effective treatments for ALD have led to increased research in this area, particularly in alcoholic hepatitis. To understand the burden of illness and potential economic value of effective treatments, we conducted a health care claims analysis of over 15,000 commercially insured adults who were hospitalized with alcoholic hepatitis (AH) between 2006 and 2013 and followed for up to 5 years. Their average age was 54 years and 68% were male. Over 5 years, about two-thirds of these adults died (44% in the first year), and fewer than 500 received liver transplants. There were nearly 40,000 re-hospitalizations, with over 50% of the survivors re-hospitalized within a year and nearly 75% through the second year. The total costs were nearly $145,000 per patient, with costs decreasing over time from over $50,000 in the first year (including the index hospitalization) to about $10,000 per year in the later years. Total costs for the cohort over 5 years were $2.2 billion. Patients who received a liver transplant averaged about $300,000 in transplant-related costs and over $1,000,000 in total health care costs over 5 years. Average costs in years following the index hospitalization were similar to diabetes. AH has a high mortality and is a high-cost condition.

Recurrent acute rhinosinusitis: epidemiology and health care cost burden.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the epidemiology of recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (RARS) and to understand direct health care costs attributable to RARS as a potentially underdiagnosed form of chronic rhinosinusitis. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective longitudinal analysis of a medical claims database. SETTING: Academic medical center. METHODS: Medical claims data (2003-2008) from a large payer database were analyzed. Adult patients with RARS (defined as at least 4 acute rhinosinusitis claims each with a filled oral antibiotic prescription in a 12-month period) were extracted. Sinonasal diagnostic procedures, provider visits, and medical costs were determined. RESULTS: A total of 4588 patients were identified (mean age, 43.5 years; 72.1% female) among 13.1 million patients, for a point prevalence of 0.035%, which remained consistent across years. After 1, 2, and 4 years, 2.4%, 5.4%, and 9.2% of patients subsequently received nasal endoscopy and 11.4%, 23.5%, and 39.9% received paranasal sinus computed tomography, respectively. RARS patients averaged 3.8 antibiotic prescriptions, 5.6 other sinus-related prescriptions, and 5.6 provider visits per year. Total direct health care costs related to RARS averaged $1091/patient-year, with oral antibiotic and nasal prescription costs averaging $210 and $452 per year, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: RARS may affect approximately 1 in 3000 adults per year. Despite significant direct health care costs of more than $1000/year per individual patient with RARS, nasal endoscopy and computed tomography are not commonly obtained early after potential diagnosis. RARS is likely an underdiagnosed condition warranting further study.