Pamela Landsman-Blumberg

Food-induced Anaphylaxis Among Commercially Insured US Adults: Patient Concordance with Postdischarge Care Guidelines

BACKGROUND Food-induced anaphylaxis is a potentially life-threatening condition that frequently results in emergency department (ED) visits and/or hospitalization. Little information is available on patient compliance with recommended postdischarge anaphylaxis care. OBJECTIVE To describe patient characteristics, concordance with recommended postdischarge care, and risk of repeated events among adults with an initial ED visit and/or hospitalization for food-induced anaphylaxis. METHODS In this retrospective study of health care claims, adults with an ED visit and/or hospitalization for food-induced anaphylaxis were identified from the 2002-2008 Truven Health MarketScan Databases by using an expanded International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis code algorithm. The first identified ED visit and/or hospitalization was the index event. Data from patients with continuous medical and prescription coverage for ≥1 year before and after the index event were retained for analysis. Analyses included baseline demographic and clinical characteristics, postdischarge epinephrine autoinjector (EAI) prescription fills and allergist/immunologist visits, and repeated events in the 1-year postindex period. RESULTS Patients (n = 1370) had a mean (SD) age of 44 ± 15 years, 58% were women. Most (86%) were seen in the ED and/ discharged from the ED. Within 1 year after discharge, 54% of adults had filled ≥1 EAI prescription (71% within 1 week) and 22% had ≥1 allergist/immunologist visit (53% within 4 weeks). Overall, 73 patients (5%) had evidence of a subsequent anaphylaxis-related ED visit and/or hospitalization 1 year after discharge. CONCLUSION Concordance with recommended postdischarge anaphylaxis care was low among adults with food-induced anaphylaxis. Within 1 year after discharge, 54% of patients filled an EAI prescription and 22% consulted an allergist/immunologist.

Rotavirus vaccination compliance and completion in a Medicaid infant population.

We examined completion and compliance rates of rotavirus (RV) vaccination according to the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the Food and Drug Administration approved Prescribing Information (PI) for Rotarix® (RV1, GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines) and RotaTeq® (RV5, Merck and Co.) among infants under one year of age covered by Medicaid programs. Healthcare claims data from state Medicaid programs that constituted the Truven Health MarketScan® Multi-State Medicaid Database were retrieved from May 2008-June 2012. Infants were grouped under PI and ACIP cohorts based on the dosing regimens followed. The overall compliance per PI (n=673,956) and ACIP (n=695,612) recommendations were 24.5% and 28.2%, respectively; completion rates were 30.3% and 32.6%, respectively. In the PI cohort, infants who received RV1 had significantly higher compliance as compared with infants who received RV5 (65.2% vs. 31.3%; p<0.0001); completion rates among infants receiving RV1 and RV5 were 65.3% and 46.4%, respectively (p<0.0001). In the ACIP cohort, compliance with RV1 was significantly higher than RV5 (68.8% vs. 45.9%; p<0.0001) as was the overall completion rate (73.5% vs. 48.8%; p<0.0001). While compliance is increasing year over year, overall compliance of RV vaccines is suboptimal, with over 40% of eligible infants unvaccinated in both populations. The 2-dose RV vaccine showed better completion rates and higher compliance than the 3-dose RV vaccine in the United States. Public health initiatives focusing on suboptimal compliance and completion rates of RV vaccination in the Medicaid population could improve these metrics, thereby offering protection against RV infection.

The prevalence of complications and healthcare costs during pregnancy

Abstract Objective: To study the economic burden of pregnancy in the US, common complications during pregnancy, and the incremental costs attributable to these complications. Methods: A retrospective comparative cohort study was conducted of pregnant women aged 15–49 years using de-identified medical and pharmacy claims from the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database incurred between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2011. The total healthcare costs are reported (adjusted to 2011 dollars) from the date of the first pregnancy-related claim through to 3 months post-delivery and these costs were compared to matched controls of non-pregnant women. Pregnancy-related complications were categorized, and the incremental costs associated with each complication were estimated using multivariate analyses. Results: A total of 322,141 eligible women with live births were studied. Compared to matched controls, the average costs of care for pregnant women were nearly

Use and cost comparison of clobazam to other antiepileptic drugs for treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome

13,000 higher through 3 months post-delivery. A total of 46.9% of women had at least one pre-specified pregnancy complication; the most commonly observed were fetal abnormality (24.7%) and early or threatened labor (16.3%). Multiple gestation (1.9%) resulted in the highest adjusted incremental cost (

The Additional Cost Burden of Preexisting Medical Conditions During Pregnancy and Childbirth

12,212; 95% CI = 11,298, 13,216); hypertension (

Elevated Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Patients With Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Seen in Community-based Oncology Practices in the United States

6152; 95% CI = 5312, 6992) and diabetes (

Clinical and economic outcomes associated with the use of fluticasone propionate 250 mcg and salmeterol 50 mcg combination versus tiotropium bromide 18 mcg as initial maintenance treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in managed care

5081; 95% CI = 4244, 5918) were also among those complications that led to high incremental costs of care. Conclusion: Pregnancy and delivery are frequently compounded by complications that lead to increased costs and resource utilization.

Estimating health care costs for advanced metastatic bladder cancer patients who are lost to follow-up: Applications of the Kaplan-Meier sampling average (KMSA).

ABSTRACT Background: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is a severe form of childhood-onset epilepsy associated with serious injuries due to frequent and severe seizures. Of the antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) approved for LGS, clobazam is a more recent market entrant, having been approved in October 2011. Recent AED budget impact and cost-effectiveness analyses for LGS suggest that adding clobazam to a health plan formulary may result in decreased medical costs; however, research on clinical and economic outcomes and treatment patterns with these AED treatments in LGS is limited. Objectives: To compare the baseline characteristics and treatment patterns of new initiators of clobazam and other AEDs among LGS patients and compare healthcare utilization and costs before and after clobazam initiation among LGS patients. Methods: A retrospective study of probable LGS patients was conducted using the MarketScan® Commercial, Medicare Supplemental, and Medicaid databases (10/1/2010-3/31/2014). Results: In the Commercial/Medicare Supplemental population, clobazam users were younger, had fewer comorbidities, and more prior AED use than non-clobazam users. In the 12 months pre-treatment initiation, clobazam users had significantly more seizure-related inpatient stays and outpatient visits and higher total seizure-related (P < 0.001) and all-cause (P < 0.001) costs than non-clobazam users. Among clobazam users, when compared to the 12 months pre-clobazam initiation, seizure-related medical utilization and costs were lower in the 12 months post-clobazam initiation (P = 0.004). Total all-cause (P < 0.001) and seizure-related (P = 0.029) costs increased post-clobazam initiation mainly due to the increase in outpatient pharmacy costs. Similar results were observed in the Medicaid population. Conclusions: Baseline results suggest a prescribing preference for clobazam in severe LGS patients. Clobazam users had a reduction in seizure-related medical utilization and costs after clobazam initiation. The improvement in medical costs mostly offset the higher prescription costs following clobazam initiation.

Treatment characteristics and mortality of a large insured female population with advanced or metastatic breast cancer by receipt of HER2-targeted agents

OBJECTIVES To identify the prevalence of comorbidities in pregnant women and examine the incremental costs of these conditions on the care for mothers and their newborns. METHODS This was a retrospective comparative cohort study of women ages 15-49 years with a documented live-birth delivery using de-identified claims from the MarketScan Research Commercial Claims and Encounters database incurred between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2011. Total health care costs from date of first pregnancy-related claim through 3 months postdelivery were reported; pregnancy-related comorbidities prior to the pregnancy diagnosis were identified and categorized in the 12 months prior to the pregnancy diagnosis, and costs associated with each condition were compiled. A subset of newborns was matched to their mothers using a unique family identifier and their costs were captured for the three months following birth. Comparisons of costs for both mothers and newborns were made using both unadjusted and multivariate analyses between mothers with and without each condition. RESULTS A total of 322,141 women with live births were identified; 135,572 of these mothers were linked to their newborn(s). Prevalent conditions included back disorders (8.9%), mental disorders (6.5%), headache (5.5%), allergic rhinitis (5.5%), and osteoarthritis (4.8%). Diabetes (0.97%) and hypertension (1.9%) were associated with the highest adjusted incremental costs of care in both mothers (

The Impact of Maternal Comorbidities on the Cost of Care for Pregnant Women and Newborns

6,211 [95% confidence interval 5,720-6,702] and