Healthcare Resource Utilization and Costs in US Patients with Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treated with Intensive Induction Chemotherapy

INTRODUCTION: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous hematologic malignancy. In the United States (US) in 2020, the incidence of AML was 4.3/100,000, with a death rate of ~2.8 per 100,000. Following diagnosis, for patients who are fit for high-dose therapy, standard of care consists of initial intensive remission-inducing chemotherapy followed by post-remission therapy comprising consolidation chemotherapy alone, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) alone, or consolidation chemotherapy followed by HSCT. Despite an initial response to treatment, most patients with AML progress, and relapse is common. Relapse in AML is associated with poor prognosis, substantial healthcare resource utilization (HCRU), and a cost burden. Maintenance therapy with newer agents may delay relapse and prolong survival. Understanding HCRU and costs of newly diagnosed AML may inform clinicians, policy makers, and payers on the burden of AML and the potential clinical and economic benefits of novel therapies. This retrospective study describes HCRU and costs for patients with newly diagnosed AML receiving intensive induction chemotherapy in the US. METHODS: The Premier Healthcare Database was used to identify patients aged ≥18 years with an inpatient hospitalization or hospital-based outpatient visit (01/01/2016-03/31/2019), an AML diagnosis (ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes: C92.00, C92.40, C92.50, C92.60, C92.A0), who received CPX-351 or 7+3 treatments, and had ≤280 days from the end of first induction treatment to remission. Patients with prior AML diagnosis or those receiving other treatments were excluded. Index date was the admission date for the first hospitalization or the first hospital-based outpatient visit with an AML diagnosis. Patients were followed until death, relapse or last known follow-up, whichever was first. Unadjusted descriptive analyses were performed for patient demographics, baseline clinical characteristics, outpatient days, inpatient hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and costs. RESULTS: Overall, 642 patients who received induction chemotherapy for newly diagnosed AML were identified. Mean (median) patient age was 53.7 (56.0) years, and 53.1% of patients were male. Patients had commercial (47.2%), Medicare (26.8%), Medicaid (17.6%), or other (8.4%) insurance. Mean (SD) Charlson Comorbidity Index was 3.5 (2.2), and the most common comorbidities were diabetes (20.3%), chronic pulmonary disease (15.4%), and congestive heart failure (9.4%). Most frequent adverse events were pyrexia (47.2%), neutropenia (39.9%), sepsis (28.0%), pneumonia (24.3%), and fungal infection (17.9%). Median (interquartile range [IQR]) time from the end of first induction chemotherapy to remission was 58 (40-90) days. Median (IQR) time from remission to relapse was 274 (141-389) days. A total of 385 (60.0%) patients had outpatient service days at a Premier facility; median (IQR) number of outpatient service days per patient was 3 (1-6), outpatient hospital cost per visit was $1,083 ($481-$2,189), and total outpatient hospital cost was $2,904 ($1,054-$7,217). All patients had an inpatient hospitalization; median (IQR) number of inpatient hospitalizations per patient was 2 (2-3), length of stay (LOS) per inpatient hospitalization was 16 (13-21) days, cost per inpatient hospitalization was $34,558 ($25,419-$49,460), and total inpatient hospital cost was $83,440 ($63,067-$113,985). A total of 144 (22.4%) patients had an ICU admission; median (IQR) number of ICU admissions per patient was 1 (1-1), LOS per ICU admission was 3 (2-8) days, cost per ICU visit was $15,771 ($7,209-$27,564), and ICU cost was $16,550 ($7,368-$36,968). CONCLUSIONS: In the US, healthcare costs for patients with newly diagnosed AML who receive induction chemotherapy are considerable, primarily due to high HCRU and lengthy inpatient stays. Patient response to induction therapy and duration of remission may also contribute to HCRU and costs. More tolerable therapies that improve remission rate and duration, and/or reduce hospitalization rates, may alleviate the economic burden of AML. Disclosures Huggar: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Knoth: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Copher: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Cao: Premier, Inc.: Current Employment; BeiGene, Ltd.: Consultancy. Lipkin: Premier, Inc.: Current Employment. McBride: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment. LeBlanc: Amgen: Consultancy, Other: travel; BMS/Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel fees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Flatiron: Consultancy, Other: Advisory board; Astellas: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board; Duke University: Research Funding; American Cancer Society: Research Funding; Helsinn: Consultancy, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board, Research Funding; Heron: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: advisory board; Agios: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board; Travel fees, Speakers Bureau; Pfizer: Consultancy, Other: Advisory Board; CareVive: Consultancy, Other, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Other: Advisory board, Research Funding; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Otsuka: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other; Daiichi-Sankyo: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board; Travel fees, Speakers Bureau; UpToDate: Patents & Royalties; NINR/NIH: Research Funding.

Severity of Inpatient Hospitalizations Among Undocumented Immigrants and Medi-Cal Patients in a Los Angeles, California, Hospital: 2019

Objectives. To compare the severity of inpatient hospitalizations between undocumented immigrants and Medi-Cal patients in a large safety-net hospital in Los Angeles, California. Methods. We conducted a retrospective analysis of all 2019 inpatient stays at a Los Angeles hospital (n = 22 480), including patients of all races/ethnicities. We examined 3 measures by using insurance status to approximate immigration status: illness severity, length of hospital stay, and repeat hospitalizations. We calculated group differences between undocumented and Medi-Cal patients by using inverse probability weighted regression adjustment separately for patients aged 18 to 64 years and those aged 65 years and older. Results. Younger undocumented patients had less severe illness and shorter lengths of stay than their Medi-Cal counterparts. Older undocumented immigrants also had less severe illness, but had similar lengths of stay and were more likely to have repeated hospitalizations. Conclusions. While existing work suggests that undocumented immigrants could have more severe health care needs on account of their poorer access to medical care, we did not see clear health disadvantages among hospitalized undocumented immigrants, especially younger patients. There were fewer differences between undocumented and Medi-Cal patients who were older. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print October 14, 2021:e1–e8. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306485 )

Associations of Telemedicine vs. In-Person Ambulatory Care Visits on Cancellation Rates and 30-Day Follow-Up Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits

Importance: Studies have shown that telemedicine use in specific conditions can promote continuity of care, decreases healthcare costs, and can potentially improve clinical outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many healthcare systems to expand access for patients using telemedicine, but little is known about cancellation frequencies in telemedicine vs. in-person appointments and its impact on clinical outcomes. Objective: Compare ambulatory clinic cancellation rates, 30-day inpatient hospitalizations rates, and 30-day emergency department visit rates between in-person and video telemedicine appointments, and examine differences in cancellation rates by age, race/ethnicity, gender, and insurance. Design: A retrospective cohort study. Setting: The largest academic healthcare system in the state of Georgia with ambulatory clinics in urban, suburban and rural settings. Participants: Adults scheduled for an ambulatory clinic appointment from June 2020 to December 2020 were included. Each appointment was identified as either a video telemedicine or in-person clinic appointment. Demographics including age, race, ethnicity, gender, primary insurance, and comorbidities were extracted from the electronic medical record. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary process outcome was ambulatory clinic cancellation rates. The primary clinical outcomes were 30-day hospitalization rates and 30-day emergency department visit rates. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess differences in the clinical outcomes between appointment types.

Hospitalization of unintentional fall injuries in Kuwait: a national database study

Background Accidental falls are a major cause of morbidity placing pressure on hospital capacity and utilizing costly services. Evaluating the burden of falls is key for planning, implementation, and evaluation of prevention strategies. To date, no studies have been published on accidental falls at the population level in Kuwait. We studied the burden of accidental falls on public hospital inpatient capacity in Kuwait and identified the subgroups with the highest utilization of inpatient service days. Methods From the national database of inpatient hospitalizations, we selected hospitalizations of patients admitted to Kuwait’s public hospitals for unintentional injury caused by an accidental fall from 1 January through 31 December 2016. We studied the number of inpatient service days (bed days), length of stay (LOS), and number of hospitalizations by age group, gender, and nationality. Mann–Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Chi square tests were used for comparison. Logistic regression was used to quantify the risk of prolonged LOS and fractures among fall-related hospitalizations. Results Accidental falls were responsible for 2.9% of inpatient hospitalizations, 3.7% of inpatient service days (61,140 days) with an ALOS of 9.1 days in Kuwait’s public hospitals in 2016. Accidental falls were responsible for 4.6% of older adult service days, and an even higher 5.6% of older women service days. In the age group 13–64, fall-related service days for non-Kuwaitis (5.7%) were more than triple those for Kuwaitis (1.8%) with a substantial percentage among male non-Kuwaitis (8.1%). The risk factors for exceeding the national ALOS for fall-related hospitalizations were female gender (OR 1.36), age 65 and older (OR 9.72), age 13–64 (OR 5.20), being non-Kuwaiti (OR 1.39), sustaining a femur fracture (OR 11.67), and undergoing surgery (OR 2.63). Fall-related hospitalizations associated with a higher risk of fractures were females (OR 1.22), patients 65 years and older (OR 5.09), patients aged 13–64 (OR 3.65), and non-Kuwaitis (OR 1.28). Conclusions Accidental falls impose a considerable burden on inpatient service utilization in Kuwait. This varies by age, gender, and nationality. To reduce this burden, prevention programs should target working-age non-Kuwaiti males and older females.

The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and Observation Hospitalizations

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) penalizes hospitals having excess inpatient rehospitalizations within 30 days of index inpatient stays for targeted conditions. Observation hospitalizations are increasing in frequency and may clinically resemble inpatient hospitalizations, yet HRRP excludes observation in index and 30-day rehospitalization counts. Using 100% 2014 Medicare fee-for-service claims and CMS’s 30-day rehospitalization methodology, we modeled how observation hospitalizations impact HRRP metrics when counted as index (denominator) and 30-day (numerator) rehospitalizations. Of 3,806,772 index hospitalizations for HRRP conditions, 418,923 (11%) were observation; 18% (155,553/876,033) of rehospitalizations were invisible to HRRP due to observation hospitalization as index (34%; 63,740/188,430), 30-day outcome (53%; 100,343/188,430), or both (13%; 24,347/188,430). By ignoring observation hospitalizations as index and 30-day events, nearly one of five HRRP rehospitalizations is missed. Policymakers might consider this an opportunity to address broad challenges of the two-tiered observation and inpatient hospital billing distinction.

Emergency department visits and inpatient hospitalizations among older patients with brain metastases: A dual population- and institution-level analysis

Background Older patients with brain metastases (BrM) commonly experience symptoms that prompt acute medical evaluation. We characterized emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient hospitalizations in this population. Methods We identified 17,789 and 361 Medicare enrollees diagnosed with BrM using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database (2010-2016) and an institutional database (2007-2016), respectively. Predictors of ED visits and hospitalizations were assessed using Poisson regression. Results The institutional cohort averaged 3.3 ED visits/1.9 hospitalizations per person-year, with intracranial disease being the most common reason for presentation/admission. SEER-Medicare patients averaged 2.8 ED visits/2.0 hospitalizations per person-year. For patients with synchronous BrM (N=7,834), adjusted risk factors for ED utilization and hospitalization, respectively, included: male sex (rate ratio [RR]=1.15 [95% CI=1.09-1.22], p<0.001; RR=1.21 [95% CI=1.13-1.29], p<0.001); African American vs. white race (RR=1.30 [95% CI=1.18-1.42], p<0.001; RR=1.25 [95% CI=1.13-1.39], p<0.001); unmarried status (RR=1.07 [95% CI=1.01-1.14], p=0.02; RR=1.09 [95% CI=1.02-1.17], p=0.01); Charlson co-morbidity score >2 (RR=1.27 [95% CI=1.17-1.37], p<0.001; RR=1.36 [95% CI=1.24-1.49], p<0.001); and receipt of non-stereotactic vs. stereotactic radiation (RR=1.44 [95% CI=1.34-1.55, p<0.001; RR=1.49 [95% CI=1.37-1.62, p<0.001). For patients with metachronous BrM (N=9,955), ED visits and hospitalizations were more common after vs. before BrM diagnosis (2.6 vs. 1.2 ED visits per person-year; 1.8 vs. 0.9 hospitalizations per person-year, respectively; RR=2.24 [95% CI=2.15-2.33], p<0.001; RR=2.06 [95% CI=1.98-2.15], p<0.001, respectively). Conclusions Older patients with BrM commonly receive hospital-level care secondary to intracranial disease, especially in select subpopulations. Enhanced care coordination, closer outpatient follow-up, and patient navigator programs seem warranted for this population.

Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions Among All-Payer Claimants With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Inpatient hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) among beneficiaries with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) were examined using Medicaid and commercial claims from 2010–2014 in New Hampshire. IDD was defined with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes using algorithms from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and inpatient encounters were identified using the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set. In adjusted analyses, beneficiaries with IDD had more hospitalizations for ACSC than those without IDD in both insurance groups. Differences in patterns of ACSC prevalence, comorbidities, and hospital admissions between the commercially and Medicaid-insured groups show the value of using all-payer claims data, when possible, to understand health needs and health care utilization of insurance beneficiaries with IDD.

Inpatient Hospitalizations during the First Wave of COVID-19 in Portugal

The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of the pandemic on inpatient hospital admissions during the first wave in Portugal. Data from hospital admissions in mainland Portugal from 2008 to 2017 were used to forecast inpatient hospital admissions for March to May 2020. The observed number of hospitalizations and their characteristics were compared to forecasted values. Variations were compared by hospital and region. Statistical analysis was used to investigate whether patterns of variations existed according to hospital characteristics. There were 119,315 fewer hospitalizations than expected during March to May 2020 in Portugal, which represented a 57% reduction. Non-COVID-19 hospitalizations had a higher mean length of stay and proportion of inpatient deaths than forecasted values. Differences between observed and forecasted values varied greatly among regions and hospitals. These variations were not associated with COVID-19 hospital admissions, region, forecasted number of hospitalizations, type of hospital, or occupation rate. The impact on inpatient hospital admissions for each hospital was not consistent or proportional to the expected use across Portugal, as indicated by variations between forecasted and observed values. The appropriate planning of future responses may contribute to improving the necessary balance between the level of hospital admissions for usual health needs of the population and the response to COVID-19 patients.