Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine the direct charges of treating patients with primary open–angle (POAG) in the context of total healthcare charges.
Methods: :
We formed a POAG cohort (N=70,436 patients) from subjects enrolled in a nationally representative, multi–managed health plan with at least 1 year of enrollment (1998–2004; PharMetrics). We required at least 2 POAG ICD–9 diagnosis codes and no ICD–9 diagnosis codes for ocular hypertension within the first year. We calculated 1–year total healthcare and POAG–related charges and compared them with an unparied t–test.
Results: :
The mean age of this cohort was 60.2 years and 56.2% were female. Mean 1–year total healthcare charges and POAG–related charges were $12,481 and $1,407 per person per year (PPPY), respectively. POAG–related charges accounted for 11.2% of total healthcare charges. The respective median for these charges were much lower ($5,032 PPPY and $784 PPPY respectively) reflecting large variances in charges that are shifted to lower values. Mean 1–year total healthcare charges were only slightly higher for those with POAG taking medication (N=49,506; $12,606 PPPY) versus those not incurring glaucoma pharmacy charges (N=20,930; $12,186 PPPY; P=0.11). As expected, POAG–related charges were significantly higher for enrollees on medication ($1,647 PPPY) compared to those not using glaucoma drugs ($836 PPPY; P<0.0001).
Conclusions: :
Among patients with POAG, POAG–related charges consume approximately 11% of total healthcare resources. Interestingly, while medicated POAG consume more total healthcare resources than non–medicated POAG patients, this amount is not statistically significant.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: health care delivery/economics/manpower