18 Nov Heart Failure Costs To Increase Due To Aging Population and Improved Medical Therapies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Boback Ziaeian MD
Cardiology Fellow, UCLA Division of Cardiology
PhD Candidate, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Ziaeian: Heart failure is projected to increase dramatically over the coming decade due to an aging population improved medical therapies that prolong heart failure survival. Spending for heart failure is projected to increase from $20.9 billion in 2012 to $53.1 billion in 2030. Despite the magnitude of the impact of heart failure on the US population and economy, our understanding of the factors associated with the highest cost heart failure hospitalizations is limited.
Our study provides a descriptive analysis of how certain patient and hospital factors are associated with increased medical costs nationally. The top 20% of heart failure hospitalizations average $28,500 per hospitalization compared to $3,000 for the lowest 20%. Overall, patients with more medical conditions (such as obesity, lung disease, and peripheral vascular disease) have much higher costs associated with hospital care. As expected, sicker patients receiving more invasive procedures such mechanical ventilation or blood transfusions incurred higher costs. Certain hospital characteristics were also associated with higher costs. Hospitals in urban centers were higher cost compared to more rural hospitals. Hospitals in the Northeast and West Coast of the US were higher in cost compared to the Midwest and South. The reasons for this disparity in medical costs requires further research to better understand.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Ziaeian: We know that heart failure is a costly condition and the best way to improve health and reduce costs is to proactively prevent hospitalizations from the beginning. For physicians, our paper provides a set of risk factors associated with patients at risk for prolonged and complicated hospitalizations. These patients may require closer attention in clinic to mitigate the risk of hospitalization.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Ziaeian: More research is needed to understand variations in heart failure outcomes, quality of care, and expenditures between health systems. In researching these issues, controlling for the disease burden and socioeconomic condition of the population serviced by each health system remains the largest challenge.
Citation:
American Heart Journal Published Online: November 14, 2014
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2014.11.007
Last Updated on November 18, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD