Hospital and ED charges for spina bifida care in the United States between 2006 and 2014: Over $2 billion annually.
Brian M Inouye, Ruiyang Jiang, M Hassan Alkazemi and 7 others
PMID 30711573WHAT IT FOUND
Estimated United States hospital and emergency department charges for spina bifida care rose from $1.2 billion in 2006 to $2.04 billion in 2014, with more emergency visits.
These are charges, not costs.
Key findings
01Total hospital and emergency department charges for spina bifida care in the United States were estimated at $2.04 billion in 2014, compared with $1.2 billion in 2006.
02Mean inpatient charges rose from $36,560 in 2006 to $57,012 in 2014, and mean emergency department charges rose from $1751.82 in 2006 to $3434.61 in 2014.
03Emergency department encounters for spina bifida ranged between 38,000 and 52,000 per year and increased steadily between 2006 and 2014, while inpatient encounters stayed between 30,000 and 35,000 per year.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study reports charges, not actual costs, because emergency department data did not provide cost-to-charge ratios. It used administrative encounter data, so it could not track individual patients over time, identify why each visit happened, or tell whether the same patient was counted more than once. Missing charge data were imputed, especially in emergency department records, and some missing values may reflect transfers from emergency care to inpatient care. The databases are not wholly representative of all U.S. hospitals and regions, and coding errors could affect the results. The estimate excludes non-emergency outpatient management, durable medical equipment, and societal costs such as missed work or school and transportation.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the $2.04 billion figure as the full cost of living with spina bifida. It is 2014 hospital and emergency department charges only, and it excludes outpatient care, equipment, and societal costs.