Behavioral Health, Chronic Conditions Underlie Health Spending for High-Utilization Adolescents, AHRQ-Funded Study Finds

Behavioral health and chronic conditions are behind a significant amount of health spending for privately insured adolescents, a new study partially funded by AHRQ suggests. In the study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, researchers analyzed 2012 data from 13,103 privately insured adolescents (ages 13 to 21) at 82 primary care pediatric clinics in Massachusetts. They found that just 1 percent of patients (132) accounted for 23 percent of total expenses, a total of $52,577 per patient, compared with overall median direct medical expenses of $1,167 per patient. Of the high-cost cohort of patients, 59 percent had at least one behavioral health diagnosis. Pharmacy costs accounted for 28 percent of total direct medical expenses for these high-cost patients. Characteristics of high-cost patients included having at least one (and in many cases two or more) complex chronic conditions, having any behavioral health diagnosis and being obese. The authors concluded that cost reduction strategies should be tailored according to medical complexity, mental health and obesity. Read the abstract.

2015 Oct 5;169(10):e152682. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.2682. Epub 2015 Oct 5.

Total Direct Medical Expenses and Characteristics of Privately Insured Adolescents Who Incur High Costs.

Gray SH1, Trudell EK2, Emans SJ1, Woods ER1, Berry JG3, Vernacchio L4.

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Abstract

IMPORTANCE:

Accountable care payment models aim to reduce total direct medical expenses for high-cost patients through improved quality of care and preventive health services. Little is known about health care expenditures of privately insured adolescents, especially those who incur high costs.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess health care expenditures for high-cost adolescents and to describe the patient characteristics associated with high medical costs.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:

A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted of data from January 1 to December 31, 2012, of 13 103 privately insured adolescents aged 13 to 21 years (mean [SD] age, 16.3 [2.4] years; 6764 [51.6%] males) at 82 independent pediatric primary care practices in Massachusetts. Analysis was conducted from April 1, 2014, to April 1, 2015.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:

We compared demographic (age, sex, median income by zip code) and clinical (obesity, behavioral health problem, complex chronic condition) characteristics between high-cost (top 1%) and non-high-cost adolescents. We assigned high-cost adolescents to clinical categories using software from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to describe clinically relevant patterns of spending.

RESULTS:

Total direct medical expenses were $41.2 million for the entire cohort and a median $1167 per patient. A total of 132 (1.0%) patients with the highest costs accounted for 23.6% of expenses of the cohort, with a median $52 577 per patient. Mental health disorders were the most common diagnosis in high-cost patients; 78 (59.1%) of these patients had at least 1 behavioral health diagnosis. Pharmacy costs accounted for 28.4% of total direct medical expenses of high-cost patients; primary care accounted for 1.0%. Characteristics associated with being a high-cost patient included having 1 complex chronic condition (relative risk [RR], 6.5; 95% CI, 4.7-9.0), having 2 or more complex chronic conditions (RR, 23.5; 95% CI, 14.2-39.1), having any behavioral health diagnosis (RR, 3.6; 95% CI, 2.6-5.1), and obesity (RR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.3-3.0).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:

Total direct medical expenses for privately insured high-cost adolescents are associated with medical complexity, mental health conditions, and obesity. Cost reduction strategies in similar populations should be tailored to these cost drivers.