Health care resource utilization and burden of disease in a US Medicare population with a principal diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the knee

Aims To assess the prevalence, health care resource utilization (HCRU), and economic burden of disease among Medicare beneficiaries with a principal diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Materials and methods Patients with a principal diagnosis of knee OA were identified from the 5% noninstitutional sample file within 2009 and 2014 Medicare fee-for-service Limited Data Sets. A complete medical benefit record for each individual was generated by linking patient data across corresponding institutional claims from inpatient, outpatient, skilled nursing facility, and home health care services. The study revealed the prevalence and HCRU among Medicare knee OA patients, as well as the patient-level burden of disease by comparing HCRU and costs between knee OA patients and matched control patients. Results The prevalence of principal diagnosis of knee OA among Medicare beneficiaries increased from 5.9% in 2009 to 6.2% in 2014. Total disease-related claims for the knee OA population was approximately 8 million in 2009 and 9 million in 2014. The average Medicare reimbursement per claim was $12,085 in the inpatient setting, $5,563 in skilled nursing facilities, $2,742 in home health care, $264 in the outpatient setting and $147 in noninstitutional office visits in 2014. Overall, the average total expense per knee OA patient in 2014 was $15,558, an increase of $5,364 compared to the matched control patient. Conclusions Many Medicare beneficiaries received care for knee OA, and these patients had significantly greater HCRU than those with the absence of knee OA, totaling over $34 billion in healthcare expenditures in 2014.