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Interactive Effects of Dementia Severity and Comorbidities on Medicare Expenditures.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Few studies have examined how dementia and comorbidities may interact to affect healthcare expenditures. OBJECTIVE:To examine whether effects of dementia severity on Medicare expenditures differed for individuals with different levels of comorbidities. METHODS:Data are drawn from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP). Comprehensive clinical assessments of dementia severity were systematically carried out at ?18 month intervals. Dementia severity was measured by Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). Comorbidities were measured by a modified Elixhauser comorbidities index. Generalized linear models examined effects of dementia severity, comorbidities, and their interactions on Medicare expenditures (1999-2010). RESULTS:At baseline, 1,280 subjects were dementia free (CDR?=?0, 66.4%), 490 had very mild dementia (CDR?=?0.5, 25.4%), 108 had mild dementia (CDR?=?1, 5.6%), and 49 had moderate/severe dementia (CDR?=?2/3, 2.5%). Average annual Medicare expenditures for individuals with moderate/severe dementia were more than twice as high as those who were dementia free (CDR?=?0: $9,108, CDR?=?0.5/1: $11,664, CDR?2: $19,604, p?

SUBMITTER: Zhu CW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5461168 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Interactive Effects of Dementia Severity and Comorbidities on Medicare Expenditures.

Zhu Carolyn W CW Cosentino Stephanie S Ornstein Katherine A KA Gu Yian Y Andrews Howard H Stern Yaakov Y

Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD 20170101 1

<h4>Background</h4>Few studies have examined how dementia and comorbidities may interact to affect healthcare expenditures.<h4>Objective</h4>To examine whether effects of dementia severity on Medicare expenditures differed for individuals with different levels of comorbidities.<h4>Methods</h4>Data are drawn from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP). Comprehensive clinical assessments of dementia severity were systematically carried out at ∼18 month intervals. Dementia se ...[more]

PMID: 28222520

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Project description:BackgroundClinical features of dementia (cognition, function, and behavioral/psychological symptoms [BPSD]) may differentially affect Medicare expenditures/health care utilization.MethodsWe linked cross-sectional data from the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study to Medicare data to evaluate the association between dementia clinical features among those with dementia and Medicare expenditures/health care utilization (n = 234). Cognition was evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Function was evaluated as the number of functional limitations (0-10). BPSD was evaluated as the number of symptoms (0-12). Expenditures were estimated with a generalized linear model (log-link and gamma distribution). Number of hospitalizations, institutional outpatient visits, and physician visits were estimated with a negative binomial regression. Medicare covered skilled nursing days were estimated with a zero-inflated negative binomial model.ResultsCognition and BPSD were not associated with expenditures. Among individuals with less than seven functional limitations, one additional limitation was associated with $123 (95% confidence interval: $19-$227) additional monthly Medicare spending. Better cognition and poorer function were associated with more hospitalizations among those with an MMSE less than three and less than six functional limitations, respectively. BPSD had no effect on hospitalizations. Poorer function and fewer BPSD were associated with more skilled nursing among individuals with one to seven functional limitations and more than four symptoms, respectively. Cognition had no effect on skilled nursing care. No clinical feature was associated with institutional outpatient care. Of individuals with an MMSE less than 15, poorer cognition was associated with fewer physician visits. Among those with more than six functional limitations, poorer function was associated with fewer physician visits.ConclusionsPoorer function, not cognition or BPSD, was associated with higher Medicare expenditures.

Project description:BackgroundAlthough Medicare Part D improved drug benefits for many beneficiaries, its impact on the coverage of Medicare Advantage Part D (MAPD) enrollees depended on their pre-existing benefits and whether they had gap coverage under Part D.ObjectiveTo examine changes in prescription drug utilization and expenditures associated with drug benefit changes resulting from the implementation of Part D.PatientsWe studied 248,773 continuously enrolled MAPD patients in eight states. Patients whose insurance product or Census block could not be identified or who had atypical benefits, low-income subsidies or Medicaid coverage were excluded.Main measuresThe main outcomes were changes in prescription drug days supply and expenditures from 2005 to 2006 and 2005 to 2007.DesignWe linked Census data with 2005-7 MAPD claims, encounter, enrollment, and benefits data and estimated associations of the outcomes with changes in drug benefits, controlling for 2005 comorbidities, demographics, and Census population characteristics.Key resultsMAPD enrollees whose drug benefits became potentially less generous after Part D had the smallest increases in drug utilization and expenditures (e.g., drug expenditures increased by $130 between 2005 and 2006), while those who potentially gained the most from Part D experienced the largest increases ($302). The differences in benefit design changes had a stronger association with drug utilization and outcomes among patients at high risk of gap entry than among the entire sample.ConclusionsAlthough Medicare Part D unambiguously improved drug coverage for many elderly, it led to heterogeneous changes in drug benefits among MAPD enrollees, who already had generic and sometimes branded drug benefits. After 2006, benefits were worse for individuals who had branded drug coverage in 2005 but now had a coverage gap, but benefits may have improved for individuals who acquired branded drug coverage. Commensurate with these differential changes in benefits following Part D, changes in drug utilization and expenditures varied substantially as well.

Project description:ImportanceFollowing the US Food and Drug Administration approval for laparoscopic gastric band surgery in 2001, as many as 96 000 devices have been placed annually. The reported rates of reoperation range from 4% to 60% in short-term studies; however, to our knowledge, few long-term population-level data on outcomes or expenditures are known.ObjectiveTo describe the rate of device-related reoperations occurring after laparoscopic gastric band surgery as well as the associated payments in a longitudinal national cohort.Design, settings, and participantsThis retrospective review of 25 042 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent gastric band placement between 2006 and 2013 identifies gastric band-related reoperations, including device removal, device replacement, or revision to a different bariatric procedure (eg, a gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy). The rates of reoperation were risk adjusted using a multivariable logistic regression model that included patient age, sex, race/ethnicity, Elixhauser comorbidities, and the year that the operation was performed.Main outcomes and measuresRate of device-related reoperation nationally and across individual hospital referral regions. Thirty-day total episode Medicare payments to hospitals for the index operation and any subsequent reoperations.ResultsOf the 25 042 patients who underwent gastric band placement, 20 687 (82.61%) were white, 18 143 (72.45%) were women, and the mean age was 57.56 years. Patients (mean age, 57.5; 76.2% women) requiring reoperation had lower rates of hypertension (64.9% vs 73.4%; P < .001) and diabetes (40.4% vs 44.6%; P < .001) and were more likely to have their index operation at a for-profit hospital (34.6% vs 22.0%; P < .001). With an average of 4.5-year follow-up, 4636 patients (18.5%) underwent 17 539 reoperations (an average of 3.8 procedures/patient). Hospital referral regions demonstrated a 2.9-fold variation in risk- and reliability-adjusted rates of reoperation (lower quartile average, 13.3%; upper quartile average, 39.1%). During the study period, Medicare paid $470 million for laparoscopic gastric band associated procedures, of which $224 million (47.6%) of the payments were for reoperations. From 2006 to 2013, the proportion of payments from Medicare for reoperations increased from 16.4% to 77.3% of their annual spending on the gastric band device.Conclusions and relevanceAmong Medicare beneficiaries undergoing gastric band surgery, device-related reoperation was common, costly, and varied widely across hospital referral regions. These findings suggest that payers should reconsider their coverage of the gastric band device.

Dataset Information

Interactive Effects of Dementia Severity and Comorbidities on Medicare Expenditures.

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Interactive Effects of Dementia Severity and Comorbidities on Medicare Expenditures.

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