Direct health care costs of 4 common skin ulcers in New Mexico Medicaid fee-for-service patients.
OBJECTIVE
To determine health care costs associated with pressure ulcers, ulcers of the lower limbs, other chronic ulcers, and venous leg ulcers from the New Mexico Medicaid fee-for-service program perspective.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of claims database


METHODS
Physician visit, hospital, and prescription costs were determined for New Mexico Medicaid patients with a primary and/or secondary diagnosis of 1 of 4 identified categories of skin ulcers from January 1, 1994, through December 31, 1998. Costs were determined in terms of mean and median annual cost per patient and total costs per year. Zero dollar claims were included within the cost calculations. All costs are expressed in 2000-dollar values.


RESULTS
Mean annual physician visit costs per patient ranged from $71 (standard deviation [SD] = $60) for venous leg ulcers in 1998 to $520 (SD = $1228) for pressure ulcers in 1996. Mean annual hospital costs per patient ranged from $266 (SD = $348) for other chronic ulcers in 1998 to $15,760 (SD = $30,706) for pressure ulcers in 1998. Mean annual prescription costs per patient ranged from $145 (SD = $282) for other chronic ulcers in 1998 to $654 (SD = $1488) for pressure ulcers in 1994.


CONCLUSIONS
The New Mexico Medicaid fee-for-service system incurred a total cost of approximately $11.6 million (in 2000 dollars) from 1994 through 1998 for the treatment of the 4 categories of skin ulcers studied. The data showed that the majority of wounds were coded as pressure ulcers, which had the highest associated costs.
Kumar
Ritesh N
RN
College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Gupchup
Gireesh V
GV
Dodd
Melanie A
MA
Shah
Bijal
B
Iskedjian
Michael
M
Einarson
Thomas R
TR
Raisch
Dennis W
DW
D002908:Chronic Disease; D004180:Direct Service Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007344:Insurance Claim Reporting / Q000191:economics; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009516:New Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000191:economics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D014647:Varicose Ulcer / Q000191:economics