Physical partner violence and medicaid utilization and expenditures.
OBJECTIVE
Little research has addressed differences in health care expenditures among women who are currently experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) compared with those who are not. The purpose of this work is to provide estimates of direct medical expenditure for physician, drug, and hospital utilization among Medicaid-eligible women who screened as currently experiencing IPV compared with those who are not currently experiencing IPV.


METHODS
In this family practice-based cross-sectional study, women were screened for current IPV using a 15-item Index of Spouse Abuse-Physical (ISA-P) between 1997 and 1998. Consents were obtained from study subjects to review Medicaid expenditure and utilization data for the same time period.


RESULTS
Mean physician, hospital, and total expenditures were higher for those women with higher IPV scores compared with those who scored as not currently experiencing IPV, after adjusting for confounders. Higher IPV scores were associated with a three-fold increased risk of having a total expenditure over $5,000 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3, 8.4). The mean total expenditure difference between the high IPV and no IPV groups was $1,064 (95% CI $623, $1506). The adjusted risk ratio for high IPV score and the log of total Medicaid expenditures was 2.3 (95% CI 1.2, 4.4).


CONCLUSIONS
Women screened as experiencing higher IPV scores had higher Medicaid expenditures compared with women not currently experiencing IPV. Early IPV assessment partnered with effective clinic or community-based interventions may help to identify IPV earlier and reduce the health impact and cost of IPV.
Coker
Ann L
AL
University of Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030. acoker@sph.uth.tmc.edu
Reeder
C Eugene
CE
Fadden
Mary Kay
MK
Smith
Paige H
PH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D016015:Logistic Models; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States; D014600:Utilization Review