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Osteoarthritis raises total health care expenditures by more than $100 billion
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Research from Stony Brook University shows that osteoarthritis increases total health care costs in the United States by $186 billion each year.
The study also revealed that osteoarthritis (OA) raised insurers’ annual total medical costs by $149.4 billion and out-of-pocket expenditures by $36.1 billion.
“Understanding the economic costs of OA are important for payors, providers, patients, and other stakeholders,” John A. Rizzo, PhD, an author of the study and professor in the university’s departments of economics and preventive medicine, noted in a press release. “Our study clearly reflects the significant impact of OA on U.S. healthcare spending.”
The study appears in the December issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
To determine the annual expected medical care costs for OA in the nation, Rizzo and his colleagues studied data from the 1996 to 2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The study included information on 84,647 adult women and 70,590 adult men with health insurance, according to the press release.
The investigators analyzed expenditures for hospital, physician and outpatient services, drugs, diagnostic testing and other OA-related medical services. They expressed the health care costs in 2007 dollars using the Medical Care Component of the Consumer Price Index.
They discovered that women had higher annual insurer health care costs than men ($4,833 vs. $4,036) and higher out-of-pocket expenditures ($1, 379 vs. $694). Due to a higher rate of OA in women, the investigators found that this group accounted for $118 billion of the total $186 billion increase in expenditures.
Improved screening methods and increased awareness could stall disease progression and lessen its effects which could lead to decreased costs for insurers, the researchers noted.
“Our results suggest that patients with OA may benefit from greater efforts to promote exercise, proper medication use, and appropriate surgical treatments for the disease,” Rizzo stated in the release.
- Reference:
Kotlarz H, Gunnarsson CL, Fang H, et al. Insurer and Out-of-Pocket Costs of Osteoarthritis in the US. Arthritis Rheum. 2009. 60;12:3546-3553. Epub ahead of print November 30, 2009]