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The cost of treating community-acquired pneumonia

1998; Elsevier BV; Volume: 20; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0149-2918(98)80144-6

1879-114X

Michael S. Niederman, Jeffrey S. McCombs, Alan N. Unger, Amit Kumar, Robert Popovian,

Respiratory viral infections research

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is responsible for an average of 4.5 million visits annually to physicians' offices, emergency departments, and outpatient clinics. However, there have been few studies using national data on the costs of treating CAP. Without such data, it is difficult to assess whether new therapies and treatment strategies are needed to improve patient outcomes. We conducted a retrospective analysis based on national incidence data and paid claims data for patients treated for CAP to assess the frequency of services rendered and costs to the health-care system. Records were selected for the study based on a primary diagnosis of CAP according to the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision. Incidence data were derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. Medicare was the primary source of data for patients aged > or =65 years. Data from the National Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were used to determine the cost of treating patients aged or =65 years and $3.6 billion for treating patients aged or =65 years and $3.1 billion (36.9% of the $8.4 billion) for the 0.5 million patients aged or =65 years and 5.8 days with an average cost of $6042 for younger patients. Room and board represented the largest percentage of the average hospital bill for patients with CAP. Inpatient physician service costs were $305 million and $192 million for the > or =65 and or =65 years and 3.3 million visits for those aged or =65 years.