Costs attributable to osteoarthritis.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate charges attributable to osteoarthritis (OA) in a managed care organization.


METHODS
Longitudinal study based on insurance claims incurred and filed between 1991 and 1993 in a national managed care organization. Patients with claims for OA were randomly sampled to yield 20,000 study subjects. Charges per person-year were determined for these patients and compared to those of comparison subjects matched for age, sex, and insurance plan without claims for OA.


RESULTS
Total charges per patient-year adjusted to 1993 dollars for patients with OA <65 and > or =65 years of age were $5,294 and $5,704, respectively, while charges for controls were $2,467 and $3,741, respectively. Thus, charges due to OA were $2,827 and $1,963, accounting for 5% of total plan charges.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with symptomatic OA incur charges for medical care at about twice the rate of plan enrollees without claims for OA and account for a substantial proportion of total charges in a managed care plan.
MacLean
C H
CH
West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Division of General Internal Medicine, California, USA.
Knight
K
K
Paulus
H
H
Brook
R H
RH
Shekelle
P G
PG
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000191:economics*