ATLANTA – The prevalence of Parkinson’s disease and associated health care spending on the condition vary significantly from state to state, an analysis of Medicare data showed.
Doug Brunk/MDedge News
Dr. Michelle E. Fullard
“There is a big variation in not only the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease but also in spending and in health care utilization” among Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with the condition, lead study author Michelle E. Fullard, MD, said in an interview at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association. “As neurologists, we should be aware of this. We can use this information to identify and target areas in which Parkinson’s patients may have increased need and require more resources. It can also inform planning at the state and federal levels.”
Dr. Fullard, formerly of the department of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and her colleagues evaluated data from Medicare Beneficiary Summary and Medicare Carrier Files for 27,538,023 individuals aged 65 years and older who were continuously enrolled in Medicare parts A and B during 2014. They calculated state-level differences in Parkinson’s disease prevalence, demographic and eligibility characteristics, costs, and health care use, including number of emergency room visits, number of outpatient clinic visits, and inpatient hospitalizations. The researchers used reimbursement data to calculate the mean out-of-pocket and Medicare cost per individual in each state, and compared direct costs and health service utilization for individuals with and without Parkinson’s disease.
Of all Medicare beneficiaries studied, 392,214 (1.42%) had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Nearly half (46%) were women and 26% were aged 85 years and older. States with the highest prevalence of Parkinson’s disease included New York (1,720/100,000), Illinois (1,566/100,000), Connecticut (1,560/100,000), Florida (1,551/100,000), Pennsylvania (1,549/100,000), Rhode Island (1,543/100,000), New Jersey (1,541/100,000), Texas (1,522/100,000), California (1,520/100,000) and Louisiana (1,519/100,000). Minnesota had the lowest prevalence (803/100,000).
Among the national sample of patients with Parkinson’s disease, there were 219,049 hospitalizations (which represented 558/1,000 Parkinson’s patients), 37,839 readmissions (172/1,000 hospitalizations), 9,740,609 outpatient physician office visits (9,700/1,000 patients), 34,159 hospice stays (87/1,000 patients), 113,027 skilled nursing facility stays (288/1,000 patients), 466,160 emergency room visits (1,188/1,000 patients, 39% of which resulted in hospital admission). In addition, there were 1,308,934 durable medical equipment events (3,337/1,000 patients), 6,676,119 laboratory tests (17,021/1,000 patients), 2,435,654 imaging events (6,210/1,000 patients), and 4,879,538 home health visits (12,441/1,000 patients). The costliest services were inpatient care ($2.1 billion), skilled nursing facility care ($1.4 billion), prescription drugs used by those with prescription coverage ($974.8 million), hospital outpatient care ($881 million), and home health care ($776.5 million).
“States with a higher prevalence of Parkinson’s disease may have a larger proportion of high-risk factor patient groups, a higher concentration of providers who recognize and document Parkinson’s disease, increased public awareness of symptoms, or increased health care–seeking behaviors among people living in the state,” the researchers wrote in their abstract. “Among our top Parkinson’s disease prevalence states, Florida and New York also rank high in terms of absolute number of Medicare beneficiaries and have large supplies of health care providers.”
They also noted that Medicare beneficiaries with Parkinson’s had increased use of health care and spending, compared with their counterparts without the disease. “This was true across all sectors of care (inpatient, outpatient, skilled nursing, and ancillary services) and is in line with data demonstrating that PD, its complications, and the shift away from comorbid disease care and prevention that occurs after a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis drive health care spending and utilization among these individuals,” they wrote.
The study was supported by the Parkinson’s Foundation. Dr. Fullard, who now holds a faculty position at the University of Colorado, Aurora, reported having no financial disclosures.
SOURCE: Ann Neurol. 2018;84[S22]:S89-90, Abstract S215.