Health Care Expenditures Up With Functional Impairments, Frailty

MONDAY, April 3, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Self-reported functional impairments and phenotypic frailty are associated with higher health care expenditures after accounting for claims-based indicators of cost, according to a study published online April 4 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Kristine E. Ensrud, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues examined whether self-reported functional impairments and phenotypic frailty are associated with incremental health care costs in a prospective cohort study involving 8,165 community-dwelling fee-for-service beneficiaries.

The researchers found that the average annualized costs were $13,906 and $14,598 among women and men, respectively. Average incremental costs of functional impairments versus no impairment in women and men were $3,328 and $2,354 for one impairment and increased to $7,330 and $11,760 for four impairments after accounting for claims-based indicators; in women and men, the average incremental costs of phenotypic frailty versus robust were $8,532 and $6,172, respectively. After adjustment for claims-based indicators, the mean predicted costs varied by both functional impairments and the frailty phenotype and ranged from $8,124 and $11,831 for robust women and men without impairments to $18,792 and $24,713 for frail women and men with four impairments. This model resulted in more accurate cost prediction for persons with multiple impairments or phenotypic frailty compared with the model with claims-derived indicators alone.

This "insight is important because it demonstrates just how much spending can be 'missed' when using claims-based measures alone," write the authors of an accompanying editorial.

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