Comparing the national economic burden of five chronic conditions.

Using a nationally representative sample of 23,230 U.S. residents, we examine patterns of economic burden across five chronic conditions: mood disorders, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and hypertension. Almost half of U.S. health care costs in 1996 were borne by persons with one or more of these five conditions; of that spending amount, only about one-quarter was spent on treating the conditions themselves and the remainder on coexistent illnesses. Each condition demonstrated substantial economic burden but also unique characteristics and patterns of service use driving those costs. The findings highlight the differing challenges involved in understanding needs and improving care across particular chronic conditions.

[1]  J. Robinson,et al.  Blended payment methods in physician organizations under managed care. , 1999, JAMA.

[2]  P. F. Adams,et al.  Current estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 1994. , 1995, Vital and health statistics. Series 10, Data from the National Health Survey.

[3]  A. Monheit,et al.  The concentration of health care expenditures, revisited. , 2001, Health affairs.

[4]  Edward H. Wagner,et al.  A Survey of Leading Chronic Disease Management Programs: Are They Consistent with the Literature? , 2002, Managed care quarterly.

[5]  F Vinicor,et al.  Promoting early diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes: the National Diabetes Education Program. , 2000, JAMA.

[6]  C. Cannon,et al.  Economics, health-related quality of life, and cost-effectiveness methods for the TACTICS (Treat Angina With Aggrastat [tirofiban]] and Determine Cost of Therapy with Invasive or Conservative Strategy)-TIMI 18 trial. , 1999, The American journal of cardiology.

[7]  L. Baker,et al.  Association of managed care market share and health expenditures for fee-for-service Medicare patients. , 1999, JAMA.

[8]  E. Wagner.  The role of patient care teams in chronic disease management , 2000, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[9]  A. K. Taylor,et al.  The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: a national health information resource. , 1996, Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing.

[10]  Jane E. Miller,et al.  The effects of race/ethnicity and income on early childhood asthma prevalence and health care use. , 2000, American journal of public health.

[11]  M. Von Korff,et al.  Chronic care costs in managed care. , 1997, Health affairs.

[12]  B. Druss,et al.  Underuse of antidepressants in major depression: prevalence and correlates in a national sample of young adults. , 2000, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[13]  C. Hoffman,et al.  Persons with chronic conditions. Their prevalence and costs. , 1996, JAMA.

[14]  R. Panettieri,et al.  A comprehensive educational program improves clinical outcome measures in inner-city patients with asthma. , 1999, Archives of internal medicine.