Patients with ESKD show high hospitalization rates for COVID-19
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Patients with end-stage kidney disease and COVID-19 continued to be hospitalized at higher rates than other segments of the Medicare population also diagnosed with COVID-19, per the latest Medicare data.
Medicare patients with ESKD saw 1,911 hospitalizations per 100,000 beneficiaries, compared with 241 per 100,000 for aged and 226 per 100,000 for disabled individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19.
The information is part of CMS’s first monthly update of data offering a look at the impact of COVID-19 on the Medicare population. “The new data indicate that American Indian/Alaskan Native beneficiaries have the second highest rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 among racial/ethnic groups after Blacks,” CMS said in a press release. “Previously, the number of hospitalizations of American Indian/Alaskan Native beneficiaries was too low to be reported.”
CMS said the data also confirm that the pandemic, now entering its seventh month, is disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations, particularly racial and ethnic minorities. “This is due, in part, to the higher rates of chronic health conditions in these populations and issues related to the social determinants of health,” CMS said.
The data on COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations of Medicare beneficiaries covers the period from January 1 through June 20, 2020, and is based on Medicare claims and encounter data CMS received by July 17, 2020.
Other key findings from CMS on patient characteristics include:
- Black beneficiaries continue to be hospitalized at higher rates than other racial and ethnic groups, with 670 hospitalizations per 100,000 beneficiaries.
- Beneficiaries eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid – who often suffer from multiple chronic conditions and have low incomes – were hospitalized at a rate more than 4.5 times higher than beneficiaries with Medicare only.
CMS said it paid $2.8 billion in Medicare fee-for-service claims for COVID-related hospitalizations, or an average of $25,255 per beneficiary, since January.
For an FAQ on this data release, visit: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/medicare-covid-19-data-snapshot-faqs.pdf.
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