Economic burden of illness for employees with painful conditions.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to compare the medical services utilization and average annual direct (ie, medical and medication) and indirect (ie, work-loss) costs for employees with painful conditions to a random sample ("average employee").


METHODS
An employer administrative claims database (approximately 600,000 insured lives) was used to identify patients with ICD-9 codes for painful conditions. Direct costs were total employer medical and medication costs and indirect costs were associated with medically related absenteeism days and disability claims.


RESULTS
Among employees with painful conditions, total costs were 1.5 to 3.5 times as high (P < 0.01) as those of the average employee (ie, 7088 US dollars to 16,874 US dollars compared with 4,849 US dollars) depending on the painful condition.


CONCLUSIONS
Painful conditions are costly to employers, and better management/treatment of such conditions may help reduce the associated employer economic burden.
White
Alan G
AG
Analysis Group, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, USA. awhite@analysisgroup.com
Birnbaum
Howard G
HG
Mareva
Milena N
MN
Henckler
Aaron E
AE
Grossman
Patricia
P
Mallett
David A
DA
D000328:Adult; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004651:Employment / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D010146:Pain / Q000191:economics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies