Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Ayse Akincigil, PhD¹, James Walkup, PhD², Jonathan D. Prince, PhD³, Ece Kalay⁴, and Stephen Crystal, PhD⁴. (1) School of Social Work, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 536 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-932-5348, aakincigil@ifh.rutgers.edu, (2) Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University, 152 Freilinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, (3) School of Social Work, Rutgers University, 536 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, (4) Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 30 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Objective: Describe basic trends in psychiatric hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries.

Methods: A trend study, utilizing the national Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) files, capturing all of the hospital inpatient services received by Medicare beneficiaries. We compare results from 2002 to a decade earlier (1992). Psychiatric hospitalizations were identified from the primary diagnosis codes.

Results: In 2002, 436 thousand beneficiaries had a psychiatric hospitalization (vs. 391 thousand beneficiaries in 1992). The rate of psychiatric hospitalizations was 1,025 per 100,000 beneficiaries (vs. 1,047 in 1992). Among beneficiaries with a psychiatric hospitalization, the average number of hospitalizations per person was 1.64 in 2002 (vs.1.51 in 1992; 9% increase); 71% of those with a psychiatric hospitalization had a single hospitalization during ‘02 (vs. 68% in ‘92). Average length of stay per psychiatric hospitalization was 14.7 days in 2002, down from 23.5 days in 1992. In 2002, the primary diagnosis was affective disorders in 36% of the psychiatric hospitalizations (vs. 33%), schizophrenia in 30% (vs. 29%) substance abuse in 13% (vs. 14%) delirium in 15% (vs. 14%). Of those who had a psychiatric hospitalization in 2002, 54% were female (vs. 53%); 51% were younger than age 65, (vs. 43% in 1992).

Conclusion: Delivery of psychiatric inpatient services to Medicare beneficiaries has changed over the 90s. The length of stay for a psychiatric hospitalization went down considerably during the 90s. This was accompanied by a 9% increase in the frequency of psychiatric hospitalizations. A greater proportion of patients were disabled (vs. elderly) in 2002.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the changes in the delivery of inpatient psychiatric services provided to Medicare beneficiaries.

Keywords: Medicare,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered