scholarly journals Incidence and Long-Term Health Care Utilization Associated With Pseudomeningocele Repair Following Vestibular Schwannoma Resection: A National Database Analysis

Cureus ◽  
2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayur Sharma ◽  
Zaid Aljuboori ◽  
Nicholas Dietz ◽  
Dengzhi Wang ◽  
Beatrice Ugiliweneza ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Dietz ◽  
Mayur Sharma ◽  
Beatrice Ugiliweneza ◽  
Dengzhi Wang ◽  
Maxwell Boakye ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has been used as an alternative to microsurgery in patients with small vestibular schwannoma (VS). We compare health care utilization metrics in patients undergoing repeat-SRS (re-SRS) and no repeat SRS (nr-SRS) at long-term follow-up. Materials and Methods We queried the MarketScan database using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision and Current Procedural Terminology 4, from 2000 to 2016. We included adult patients who had diagnosis of VS and treatment with SRS with at least 5 years of continuous enrollment after the procedure. Outcomes were hospital admissions, outpatient services, and medication refills. Results Of 1,047 patients, 5.1% (n = 53) had repeat SRS. Majority of re-SRS (74%, n = 39) were done within 2 years of index procedure and 51% were within 1-year of initial procedure. Patients who required re-SRS incurred higher hospital readmission rate, outpatient services, and had higher payments compared with those who did not require re-SRS at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years following the initial procedures. Re-SRS received 3.0- and 3.1-times higher payments at 1 and 2 years compared with nr-SRS cohort. At 5 years following SRS, median combined payments for re-SRS cohort was $105286 (interquartile range [IQR] $70999, $156569) compared with $44172 (IQR $22956, $84840) for nr-SRS cohort. Conclusion More than half of the re-SRS procedures were noted within first year of initial SRS for VS. Overall payments at 5 years for repeat SRS was more than double that for nr-SRS. Repeat SRS was also associated with more re-admissions and outpatient services at annual follow-up time points.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135581962199749
Author(s):  
Veronica Toffolutti ◽  
David Stuckler ◽  
Martin McKee ◽  
Ineke Wolsey ◽  
Judith Chapman ◽  
...  

Objective Patients with a combination of long-term physical health problems can face barriers in obtaining appropriate treatment for co-existing mental health problems. This paper evaluates the impact of integrating the improving access to psychological therapies services (IAPT) model with services addressing physical health problems. We ask whether such services can reduce secondary health care utilization costs and improve the employment prospects of those so affected. Methods We used a stepped-wedge design of two cohorts of a total of 1,096 patients with depression and/or anxiety and comorbid long-term physical health conditions from three counties within the Thames Valley from March to August 2017. Panels were balanced. Difference-in-difference models were employed in an intention-to-treat analysis. Results The new Integrated-IAPT was associated with a decrease of 6.15 (95% CI: −6.84 to −5.45) [4.83 (95% CI: −5.47 to −4.19]) points in the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [generalized anxiety disorder-7] and £360 (95% CI: –£559 to –£162) in terms of secondary health care utilization costs per person in the first three months of treatment. The Integrated-IAPT was also associated with an 8.44% (95% CI: 1.93% to 14.9%) increased probability that those who were unemployed transitioned to employment. Conclusions Mental health treatment in care model with Integrated-IAPT seems to have significantly reduced secondary health care utilization costs among persons with long-term physical health conditions and increased their probability of employment.


Author(s):  
He Chen ◽  
Jing Ning

Abstract Long-term care insurance (LTCI) is one of the important institutional responses to the growing care needs of the ageing population. Although previous studies have evaluated the impacts of LTCI on health care utilization and expenditure in developed countries, whether such impacts exist in developing countries is unknown. The Chinese government has initiated policy experimentation on LTCI to cope with the growing and unmet need for aged care. Employing a quasi-experiment design, this study aims to examine the policy treatment effect of LTCI on health care utilization and out-of-pocket health expenditure in China. The Propensity Score Matching with Difference-in-difference approach was used to analyse the data obtained from four waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Our findings indicated that, in the aspect of health care utilization, the introduction of LTCI significantly reduced the number of outpatient visits by 0.322 times (p<0.05), the number of hospitalizations by 0.158 times (p<0.01), and the length of inpatient stay during last year by 1.441 days (p<0.01). In the aspect of out-of-pocket health expenditure, we found that LTCI significantly reduced the inpatient out-of-pocket health expenditure during last year by 533.47 yuan (p<0.01), but it did not exhibit an impact on the outpatient out-of-pocket health expenditure during last year. LTCI also had a significantly negative impact on the total out-of-pocket health expenditure by 512.56 yuan. These results are stable in the robustness tests. Considering the evident policy treatment effect of LTCI on health care utilization and out-of-pocket health expenditure, the expansion of LTCI could help reduce the needs for health care services and contain the increases in out-of-pocket health care expenditure in China.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Harwood ◽  
Jesse Pines ◽  
C. Holly A. Andrilla ◽  
Bianca K. Frogner

Abstract Background: Diagnostic testing and treatment recommendations can vary when medical care is sought by individuals for low back pain (LBP), leading to variation in quality and costs of care. We examine how first provider seen by an individual at initial diagnosis of LBP influences downstream utilization and costs. Methods: Using national private health insurance claims data, individuals age 18 or older were retrospectively assigned to cohorts based on the first provider seen at the index date of LBP diagnosis. Exclusion criteria included individuals with a diagnosis of LBP or any serious medical conditions, or an opioid prescription recorded in the six months prior to the index date. Outcome measures included use of imaging, back surgery rates, hospitalization rates, emergency department visits, early- and long-term opioid use, and costs (out-of-pocket and total costs of care) twelve months post-index date. We used a common econometric technique, two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) estimation to reduce selection bias in the choice of first provider, controlling for demographics.Results: Among 3,799,593 individuals, cost and utilization varied considerably based on first provider seen by the patient. The frequency of early opioid prescription was significantly lower when care began with an acupuncturist or chiropractor, and highest for those who began with an emergency medicine physician or advanced practice registered nurse (APRN). Long-term opioid prescriptions were low across most providers except physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians and APRNs. The frequency and time to serious illness varied little across providers. Total cost of care was lowest when starting with a chiropractor ($5,093) or primary care physician ($5,660), and highest when starting with an orthopedist ($9,434) or acupuncturist ($9,205). Conclusion: The first provider seen by individuals with LBP was associated with large differences in health care utilization, opioid prescriptions, and cost while there were no differences in delays in diagnosis of serious illness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-76
Author(s):  
Emma Popejoy ◽  
Takawira C. Marufu ◽  
David A. Thomas ◽  
Rachel Gregory ◽  
Adele Frost ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 871-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Floortje Mols ◽  
Kazimier A. Helfenrath ◽  
Ad J.J.M. Vingerhoets ◽  
Jan Willem W. Coebergh ◽  
Lonneke V. van de Poll-Franse

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