title: Using medical billing data to evaluate chronically ill children over time.
abstract: This study evaluates stability of chronic condition identification in children older than 4 years in a health plan billing data using Clinical Risk Groups. A total of 31,055 children were continuously enrolled for 4 years; 7.5% (2,334) identified with a chronic condition status in year 1, 2002, and another 15.4% (4,784) during subsequent years; 63.6% (19,759) were identified as "healthy" throughout. The most stable were those identified with a catastrophic health condition. The least stable were those with minor and moderate/dominant major chronic conditions. Overall, 73.1% (1,706) of the children with chronic conditions in year 1 improved in status, and 5.7% (133) progressed to more complex conditions.
authors.affiliation: Center for Children with Special Needs, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, 98101, USA. john.neff@seattlechildrens.org
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Neff
authors.forename: Virginia L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Popalisky
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fitzgibbon
mesh_terms: D000067:Accounts Payable and Receivable; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000191:economics*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008330:Management Audit; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States