Abstract
AbstractThe growth in healthcare spending is an important topic in the United States, and preterm and low-birthweight infants have some of the highest healthcare expenditures of any patient population. We performed a retrospective cohort study of spending in this population using a large, national claims database of commercially insured individuals. A total of 763,566 infants with insurance coverage through Aetna, Inc. for the first 6 months of post-natal life were included, and received approximately $8.4 billion (2016 USD) in healthcare services. Infants with billing codes indicating preterm status (<37 weeks, n = 50,511) incurred medical expenditures of $76,153 on average, while low-birthweight status (<2500 g) was associated with average spending of $114,437. Infants born at 24 weeks gestation (n = 418) had the highest per infant average expenditures of $603,778. Understanding the drivers of variation in costs within gestational age and birthweight bands is an important target for future studies.
Funder
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Dr Palmer reported receiving salary support from the Aetna Life Insurance Company as part of the Aetna Research Collaboration with Harvard Medical School.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Obstetrics and Gynecology,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
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