Chronic care costs in managed care.
This DataWatch presents estimates of the health care costs for all adults who were continuously enrolled in a large staff-model health maintenance organization (HMO) during 1992. More than one-third of these adults were diagnosed with at least one chronic condition in 1992, and costs for this population are at least twice those of the population without chronic conditions. A diagnosis of a chronic condition results in an expected increase in costs of 80 percent-300 percent, depending on age, sex, and chronic condition profile. Previous studies of the costs of chronic illness have focused on the fee-for-service sector. As managed care continues to grow, it is important that economic analyses focus on this market segment.
Fishman
P
P
Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative (GHC) of Puget Sound, USA.
Von Korff
M
M
Lozano
P
P
Hecht
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000191:economics*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000191:economics*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D014861:Washington