Dataset Information

Medical visits and health-care expenditures of patients attending orthopedic clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan: LIFE Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The first state of emergency for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan was imposed from April to May 2020. During that period, people were urged to avoid non-essential outings, which may have reduced their access to health care.

Methods

Using health-care claims data from a city in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of the state of emergency's impact on patients' medical visits to orthopedic clinics and their associated health-care expenditures. These measures were compared between 2019 and 2020 using a year-over-year analysis and unpaired t-tests.

Results

The analysis showed that medical visits in 2020 significantly decreased by 23.7% in April (P < 0.01) and 17.6% in May (P < 0.01) when compared with the previous year. Similarly, monthly outpatient health-care expenditure significantly decreased by 2.4% (P < 0.01) in April 2020 when compared with April 2019. In contrast, the health-care expenditure per capita per visit significantly increased by 1.5% (P < 0.01) in June 2020 (after the state of emergency was lifted) when compared with June 2019.

Conclusion

As orthopedic clinics in Japan are reimbursed using a fee-for-service system, the increases in per capita expenditures after the state of emergency may be indicative of physician-induced demand. However, we posit that it is more likely that a post-emergency increase in anti-inflammatory and analgesic treatments for spondylopathies, low back pain and sciatica induced a temporary rise in these expenditures.

SUBMITTER: Tani N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9278191 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Medical visits and health-care expenditures of patients attending orthopedic clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan: LIFE Study.

Tani Naomichi N Fukuda Haruhisa H

International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care 20220701 3

<h4>Background</h4>The first state of emergency for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan was imposed from April to May 2020. During that period, people were urged to avoid non-essential outings, which may have reduced their access to health care.<h4>Methods</h4>Using health-care claims data from a city in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of the state of emergency's impact on patients' medical visits to orthopedic clinics and their associated health-car ...[more]

PMID: 35808994

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Dataset Information

Medical visits and health-care expenditures of patients attending orthopedic clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan: LIFE Study.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Medical visits and health-care expenditures of patients attending orthopedic clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan: LIFE Study.

Similar Datasets

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