Mae Thamer

Medical Expenditures for the Treatment of Osteoporotic Fractures in the United States in 1995: Report from the National Osteoporosis Foundation

Osteoporotic fractures are a significant public health problem, resulting in substantial morbidity and mortality. Previous estimates of the economic burden of osteoporosis, however, have not fully accounted for the costs associated with treatment of nonhip fractures, minority populations, or men. Accordingly, the 1995 total direct medical expenditures for the treatment of osteoporotic fractures were estimated for all persons aged 45 years or older in the United States by age group, sex, race, type of fracture, and site of service (inpatient hospital, nursing home, and outpatient). Osteoporosis attribution probabilities were used to estimate the proportion of health service utilization and expenditures for fractures that resulted from osteoporosis. Health care expenditures attributable to osteoporotic fractures in 1995 were estimated at

Abdominal Adhesiolysis: Inpatient Care and Expenditures in the United States in 1994☆

13.8 billion, of which

Healthcare expenditures for sinusitis in 1996: Contributions of asthma, rhinitis, and other airway disorders

10.3 billion (75.1%) was for the treatment of white women,

Psychiatric illness in patients with end-stage renal disease.

2.5 billion (18.4%) for white men,

Prednisone, Lupus Activity, and Permanent Organ Damage

0.7 billion (5.3%) for nonwhite women, and

U.S. nephrologists' attitudes towards renal transplantation: results from a national survey.

0.2 billion (1.3%) for nonwhite men. Although the majority of U.S. health care expenditures for the treatment of osteoporotic fractures were for white women, one‐fourth of the total was borne by other population subgroups. By site‐of‐service,

Estimated Effect of Epoetin Dosage on Survival among Elderly Hemodialysis Patients in the United States

8.6 billion (62.4%) was spent for inpatient care,

Association between antihypertensive drug use and hypoglycemia: a case-control study of diabetic users of insulin or sulfonylureas.

3.9 billion (28.2%) for nursing home care, and

High doses of epoetin do not lower mortality and cardiovascular risk among elderly hemodialysis patients with diabetes

1.3 billion (9.4%) for outpatient services. Importantly, fractures at skeletal sites other than the hip accounted for 36.9% of the total attributed health care expenditures nationally. The contribution of nonhip fractures to the substantial morbidity and expenditures associated with osteoporosis has been underestimated by previous researchers.

Influence of the NIH Consensus Conference on Helicobacter pylori on physician prescribing among a Medicaid population.

BACKGROUND Adhesion formation represents a major complication after lower abdominal operations. It is postulated that a shift in surgical practice in recent years toward the use of less invasive techniques, such as laparoscopy, may be associated with a reduction in the incidence of intraperitoneal adhesions and in the rate of adhesiolysis procedures. Using an attributable-risk methodology, this cost-of-illness study was designed to estimate the hospitalization rate and expenditures for adhesiolysis in the United States in 1994 and to examine changes in attributable expenditures since 1988. STUDY DESIGN A national hospital discharge data base was used to identify all abdominal adhesion procedures performed in the United States in 1994. Total hospitalization expenditures were based on Medicare payment rates for adhesiolysis hospitalizations and physician services, which were applied to the total number of inpatient days attributed to adhesiolysis. The results were compared with published rates and expenditures attributed to adhesiolysis in 1988. RESULTS Adhesiolysis was responsible for 303,836 hospitalizations during 1994, primarily for procedures on the digestive and female reproductive systems. These procedures accounted for 846,415 days of inpatient care and