COVID-19 treatment and hospitalization costs: a descriptive analysis of the FAIR Health COVID-19 Cost Tracker
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Brief (FAIR Health, Inc.)
- Contributor(s):
- FAIR Health, Inc., issuing body.
- Publication:
- New York, NY : FAIR Health, Inc., December 15, 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- COVID-19 -- economics COVID-19 -- therapy Costs and Cost Analysis Health Care Costs -- statistics & numerical data Hospital Costs -- statistics & numerical data Hospitalization -- economics United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- This brief provides a descriptive analysis of the COVID-19 patient population whose treatment and hospitalization costs are tracked by FAIR Health’s COVID-19 Cost Tracker, a free, online tool displaying typical, state-by-state COVID-19 costs. Drawing on the same repository of billions of private healthcare claim records that powers the COVID-19 Cost Tracker, this analysis focuses on the period from April 2020 to August 2021. It shows month by month how many patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 and what treatment pathways they took, with the data analyzed by age, gender, and rural versus urban location. It studies mortality, median length of stay, and number and type of comorbidities. Finally, it turns to the issue of costs, showing the states with the highest and lowest average allowed amounts for each treatment pathway, and average allowed amounts by US census region. Among the key findings (from April 2020 to August 2021 unless otherwise indicated): (1) December 2020 was the month with the most reported COVID-19 diagnoses. (2) From January to June 2021, the distribution of COVID-19 diagnoses in urban areas was higher than in rural areas. But in July 2021, and even more in August 2021, rural areas had a greater distribution of COVID-19 cases than urban areas. (3) The largest category of COVID-19 cases included those who tested positive for COVID-19 but did not receive any further services for COVID-related symptoms. That category was larger than outpatients with symptoms, complex inpatients (hospitalized patients who required ventilation and/or admission to the intensive care unit [ICU]) or noncomplex inpatients (hospitalized patients who did not require ventilation or admission to the ICU). (4) The largest percentage of complex hospitalizations occurred in those 70 years and older (17.2 percent of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in this age group); an additional 15.7 percent of patients in this age group had a noncomplex hospitalization. In total, 32.9 percent of all patients 70 years and older had an inpatient stay for their COVID-19 diagnosis. (5) In noncomplex hospitalizations for COVID-19, 57 percent of patients were female, but in complex hospitalizations, 57 percent of patients were male. (6) The percentage of COVID-19 patients who died in April 2020 was 1.9 percent, but from February to July 2021, it was about half a percent each month. (7) The median length of stay for patients with a complex hospitalization for COVID-19 decreased from a high of 13 days in April 2020 to a low of 7 days in July 2021. The median length of stay for a noncomplex hospitalization, however, remained relatively flat throughout this period, with most months having a median of four days and the rest three days. (8) Of COVID-19 patients with a complex inpatient stay, 48.4 percent had five or more comorbidities and 20.6 percent had zero comorbidities. By comparison, patients with zero comorbidities constituted nearly half (49.4 percent) of all patients diagnosed with COVID-19; patients with five or more comorbidities constituted only 13.7 percent of all patients diagnosed with COVID-19. (9) In patients with a complex hospitalization for COVID-19, the most common comorbidity was hyperlipidemia and/or hypertension, which accounted for 14.7 percent of this population. In patients with a noncomplex hospitalization for COVID-19, the most common comorbidity was chronic breathing issues, at 6.5 percent of the distribution. (10) In 2020 and 2021, Maryland was the state with the lowest average allowed amounts for complex and noncomplex hospitalizations and outpatient treatment for COVID-19.² The state with the highest average allowed amounts for complex hospitalizations for COVID-19 was New Jersey, the state with the highest average allowed amounts for noncomplex hospitalizations was Alaska, and the state with the highest average allowed amounts for outpatient treatment was Nevada. (11) For complex and noncomplex hospitalizations for COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, the West had the highest average allowed amounts and the South the lowest. For outpatient treatment for COVID-19, the West had the highest average allowed amounts and the Northeast the lowest.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (30 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918383083906676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918383083906676