Cost of lower-limb amputation in U.S. veterans with diabetes using health services data in fiscal years 2004 and 2010

The purpose of this study was to estimate healthcare costs associated with diabetes-related lower-limb amputations (LLAs) within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). We performed a cross-sectional comparative analysis of 3,381 VHA clinic users in fiscal year (FY) 2004 and 3,403 clinic users in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of rehabilitation research and development 2014-01, Vol.51 (8), p.1325-1330
Main Authors: Franklin, Heather, Rajan, Mangala, Tseng, Chin-Lin, Pogach, Len, Sinha, Anushua, Mph, Md
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Amputation
Amputation - economics
Care and treatment
Cross-Sectional Studies
Diabetes Complications - economics
Diabetes Complications - surgery
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications
Diabetics
Economic aspects
Female
Fiscal years
Forecasts and trends
Health care costs
Health Care Costs - statistics & numerical data
Hospitals
Humans
Injuries
Leg amputation
Male
Medicare
Middle Aged
Studies
Time Factors
United States
Veterans
Veterans Health - economics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The purpose of this study was to estimate healthcare costs associated with diabetes-related lower-limb amputations (LLAs) within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). We performed a cross-sectional comparative analysis of 3,381 VHA clinic users in fiscal year (FY) 2004 and 3,403 clinic users in FY2010 identified as having type 2 diabetes mellitus and nontraumatic LLA. LLA expenditures related to inpatient medical, inpatient surgical, and outpatient care were estimated using VHA Health Economics Resource Center average cost files. LLA-related pharmaceutical costs were obtained from VHA Decision Support System national extract files. From the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) perspective, the mean cost associated with care for diabetes-related LLA per patient in the VA healthcare system in FY2004 was $50,351 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 48,939-51,803) in U.S. dollars; the total cost for all 3,381 patients was $170,236,037. In FY2010, cost per patient rose to $60,647 (95% CI = 59,143-62,188), with a total cost of $206,380,331 for 3,403 patients. In the VHA healthcare system, the economic burden associated with LLAs in patients with diabetes exceeded $200,000,000 in FY2010. This suggests that further improvements in care of patients with diabetes could be associated with significant cost savings.
ISSN:0748-7711
1938-1352
DOI:10.1682/JRRD.2013.11.0249