Does Co-Occurring Traumatic Brain Injury Affect VHA Outpatient Health Service Utilization and Associated Costs Among Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder? An Examination Based on VHA Administrative Data.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine whether a traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnosis was associated with increased outpatient service utilization and associated costs among Iraq and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom [OEF]/Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF]/Operation New Dawn [OND]) War veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who used Veterans Health Affairs (VHA) care in a 1-year period.

Setting

N/A.

Participants

OEF/OIF/OND veterans with a diagnosis of PTSD and/or TBI who utilized VHA services during fiscal year 2012 (N = 164 644).

Design

Observational study using VHA administrative data.

Main measures

Outpatient VHA utilization (total and by category of care) and associated costs (total and by VA Health Economic Resource Center cost category).

Results<

SUBMITTER: Kehle-Forbes SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9894625 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan/Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature