Table 3.
Healthcare Costs Among Weighted Prompt and Delayed Cohorts
| Healthcare Costs | Prompt [A] N = 529 | Delayed [B] N = 1375 | Cost Difference (95% CI)a | p-valuea |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observation periodb, mean (SD) | 358.0 (137.4) | 369.4 (140.7) | ||
| Healthcare costsc, $US 2019 PPY, mean (SD) | ||||
| All-cause | ||||
| Total costs (medical + pharmacy) | $26,107 ($44,967) | $32,400 ($61,154) | −6293 (−11,698, −1170) | 0.014 |
| Total medical costs | $18,870 ($43,079) | $24,360 ($59,083) | −5489 (−10,383, −644) | 0.026 |
| Hospitalization costs | $6201 ($25,063) | $9346 ($42,669) | −3145 (−6297, −238) | 0.032 |
| Outpatient visit costs | $12,250 ($30,776) | $14,517 ($35,814) | −2267 (−5629, 1697) | 0.204 |
| ER visit costs | $419 ($1354) | $496 ($1743) | −77 (−251, 126) | 0.426 |
| Pharmacy costs | $7237 ($9556) | $8040 ($11,000) | −803 (−1935, 479) | 0.180 |
| COPD-relatedd | ||||
| Total costs (medical + pharmacy) | $12,694 ($26,740) | $17,640 ($45,377) | −4946 (−8288, −1832) | 0.002 |
| Total medical costs | $8919 ($26,065) | $13,286 ($45,277) | −4367 (−7656, −1307) | 0.004 |
| Hospitalization costs | $5499 ($24,430) | $8075 ($41,160) | −2576 (−5658, 173) | 0.066 |
| Outpatient visit costs | $3223 ($7107) | $4909 ($15,827) | −1686 (−2873, −302) | 0.018 |
| ER visit costs | $197 ($898) | $303 ($1520) | −105 (−241, 38) | 0.138 |
| Pharmacy costs | $3775 ($2881) | $4353 ($3239) | −579 (−929, −222) | 0.004 |
Notes: Prompt and delayed patients were weighted using the inverse probability of treatment weighting approach based on the propensity score. Variables used in the propensity score calculation included the following: age, sex, year/quarter of index date, US region, type of insurance plan (ie, PPO, HMO, POS, and other types), Quan-CCI score (categories of 0, 1, 2, and 3+), asthma diagnosis, type of COPD-related exacerbation on the index date, patients with multiple events in the index exacerbation, respiratory medication use, all-cause and COPD-related HRU and medical costs, and comorbidities (those with ≥5% prevalence in either cohort). a CIs and p-values were calculated using non-parametric bootstrap procedures with 999 replications. b The observation period spanned from the index date to the earliest of health plan disenrollment or end of data availability. c All costs were inflation-adjusted to 2019 US dollars based on the medical care component of the Consumer Price Index. d A claim was considered COPD-related if it was associated with a primary or secondary diagnosis of COPD.
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; ER, emergency room; HMO, health maintenance organization; HRU, healthcare resource utilization; POS, point-of-service; PPO, preferred provider organization; PPY, per person-year; Quan-CCI, Quan-Charlson comorbidity index; SD, standard deviation.