Patient and Facility Variation in Costs of VA Heart Failure Patients.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

This study sought to determine the variation in annual health care costs among patients with heart failure in the Veterans Affairs (VA) system.

Background

Heart failure is associated with considerable use of health care resources, but little is known about patterns in patient characteristics related to higher costs.

Methods

We obtained VA utilization and cost records for all patients with a diagnosis of heart failure in fiscal year 2010. We compared total VA costs by patient demographic factors, comorbid conditions, and facility where they were treated in bivariate analyses. We regressed total costs on patient factors alone, VA facility alone, and all factors combined to determine the relative contribution of patient factors and facility to explaining cost

SUBMITTER: Yoon J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5507550 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature