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HCV Hospitalizations Costs Increase 291%,
estimated healthcare system burden by study at $15 billion/year...
 
 
  [from Jules: a public health epidemic the federal govt and medicaid refuse to deal with; as well, state governments & private payers dismiss, but the real culprits are the White House, Congress and federal leaders who refuse to address this]
 
....charges for HCV hospitalizations increased 291% from $0.9 billion to $3.5 billion from 2004 to 2011 and charges for advanced liver disease increased 44% (CDC Report)...."
As the baby boomers age, they are more likely to leave health plans provided by their employers and private insurance companies, replacing those plans with Medicare coverage (from Jules: payers are waiting for this).......many newer-generation pharmaceuticals have largely been found to be cost-effective in recent modeling efforts.32,33 The high rates of hospitalization and the morbidity burden associated with hepatitis C, along with the rapidly evolving availability of effective new hepatitis C therapies, are an impetus for national programs of testing and linkage to care.......The increase in the rate of hospitalizations associated with hepatitis C is striking, with a relative percent change of 190 percent in the period 2004-11.....We also observed increases in hospitalization for advanced liver disease sequelae, particularly hepatorenal syndrome, portal hypertension, ascites, and liver cancer. During the same period, rates of hospitalizations principally for hepatitis B and for alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, the other two main etiologies for advanced liver disease, were stable or declined.....our data provide evidence for a rapidly increasing nationwide trend in morbidity attributable to hepatitis C and advanced liver disease related to hepatitis C in the United States. This is consistent with the trends observed during the period 1998-2003.27 These findings suggest that hepatitis C is a public health problem and has been growing in magnitude in recent years. The increased morbidity related to hepatitis C was associated with large and increasing medical costs. The total charge of hospitalizations principally caused by hepatitis C reached $3.5 billion in 2010-11 and more than tripled during the study period (291 percent). Increased costs were also observed for diagnoses of advanced liver disease (44 percent).".......A recent study also investigated the burden of hepatitis C in the health care system and reported the inpatient burden to be greater than $15 billion annually.28 This cost estimate included all hospitalizations that listed hepatitis C as a principal or secondary diagnosis. When all hospitalizations that listed hepatitis C as a secondary diagnosis were included, even if the principal diagnosis was unrelated to hepatitis C or liver disease, the resulting cost estimate was much higher than ours.......see link below
 
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Inpatient HCV Resource Utilization Increased by 60%, Costs $6 Billion Annually & Projected to Double
......"The increase in inpatient discharges relative to outpatient visits is also potentially worrisome. Although not indicated by our data, these findings may signal the inability of these individuals to access outpatient care and treatment to prevent the progression of HCV-related liver disease. These observations could also represent the results of delayed HCV detection, with individuals not presenting for care until after developing symptomatic end-stage liver disease or other severe sequelae. We also identified a very low percentage of HCV-related visits in rural settings; while potentially suggesting regional disparities in HCV prevalence, these findings may also indicate a lack of suitable HCV care resources outside of metropolitan areas."
 
National Estimates of Healthcare Utilization by Individuals With Hepatitis C Virus Infection in the United States - (12/03/14)
 
This analysis provides current national perspectives of the burden of HCV infection on the US healthcare system. Individuals with HCV infection were large users of healthcare resources, incurring more than 2.3 million outpatient, 73 000 ED, and 475 000 inpatient hospital stays annually.
 
Individuals with HCV infection were responsible for >2.3 million outpatient, 73 000 ED, and 475 000 inpatient visits annually. Persons in the baby boomer cohort accounted for 72.5%, 67.6%, and 70.7% of care episodes in these settings, respectively. Whereas the number of outpatient visits remained stable during the study period, inpatient admissions among HCV-infected baby boomers increased by >60%. Inpatient stays totaled 2.8 million days and cost >$15 billion annually. Nonwhites, uninsured individuals, and individuals receiving publicly funded health insurance were disproportionately affected in all healthcare settings.
 
Conclusions. Individuals with HCV infection are large users of outpatient, ED, and inpatient health services. Resource use is highest and increasing in the baby boomer generation. These observations illuminate the public health burden of HCV infection in the United States.
 
As expected, our study affirmed the disproportionate use of healthcare resources by the HCV-infected baby boomer cohort, accounting for approximately 1.7 million outpatient visits, 49 000 ED visits, and 336 000 inpatient discharges annually. However, there were other important observations that highlight the challenges of providing healthcare to this subset. For example, although the rates of outpatient and ED visits by the HCV-infected baby boomer cohort remained stable from 2001 to 2010, the corresponding rates of inpatient discharge increased by >60%. Compared with outpatient and ED settings, a larger percentage of discharges involved a liver-related complication. Among the baby boomer cohort, discharges involving a liver complication were a substantial economic burden, totaling nearly $6 billion annually. At the current rate, in 10 years, HCV baby boomers may account for up to 912 000 annual hospitalizations, with acuity likely to increase given the underlying progressive liver disease and high comorbidity burden among these patients [17].
 
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Hospitalizations And Costs Associated With Hepatitis C And Advanced Liver Disease Continue To Increase - HCV/Aging Hospitalizations/Costs Tripled in 6 Years (CDC Report)- (12/03/14)......charges for HCV hospitalizations increased 291% from $0.9 billion to $3.5 billion from 2004 to 2011 and charges for advanced liver disease increased 44%
 
.......When we combined the increases in per hospitalization charge and number of hospitalizations (Exhibit 1), we estimated that the total nationwide charges for hospitalizations with hepatitis C as the principal diagnosis increased from $0.9 billion during 2004-05 (20,963 hospitalizations at $42,415 per hospitalization) to $3.5 billion (64,867 hospitalizations at $53,626 per hospitalization) during 2010-11. This was a relative percent change of 291 percent. Similarly, the estimated nationwide charges from the 663,114 hospitalizations principally caused by advanced liver disease totaled $69.4 billion during 2010-11 (an average of $34.7 billion per year), which resulted in a relative percent change of 44 percent when compared with 2004-05.....

 
 
 
 
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