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332740
State-based surveillance: Rising cost of fall-related hospitalization in Texas


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Samuel Towne, PhD, MPH, CPH, Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Matthew Lee Smith, PhD, MPH, CHES, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, Workplace Health Group, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
SangNam Ahn, PhD, MPSA, Division of Health Systems Management and Policy, The University of Memphis School of Public Health, Memphis, TN
Yajuan Li, Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M, College Station, TX
Diane Dowdy, Ph.D., School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Marcia Ory, PhD, MPH, Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Background: The risk of falls increases with age, particularly affecting adults age 65 years and older. While preventable, falls oftentimes result in costly hospitalizations, and thereby greater surveillance is needed to monitor the growing cost-burden associated with falls over time.

Purpose: We examined the cost of fall-related hospitalization among adults age 65 years and older for 2011 and 2013 in Texas.

Methods: The 2011 (n=2,937,634) and 2013 (n=2,910,853) Texas Hospital Inpatient Discharge Public Use Data Files were used to analyze cost among older adults experiencing fall-related hospitalizations. ICD-9 codes were used to categorize fall-related hospitalization. The total fall-related costs were calculated based on accommodation charges, non-covered accommodation charges, ancillary charges, and non-covered ancillary charges.

Results: The number of fall-related hospitalizations rose from 49,299 in 2011 to 54,640 in 2013 among older adults. Subsequently, the total cost of fall-related hospitalizations increased from $2.5 billion in 2011 to $3.2 billion in 2013 among older adults. In addition, the average cost of fall-related hospitalizations rose from $50,280 in 2011 to $59,010 in 2013.

Conclusion: Identifying the incidence and cost of fall-related hospitalizations could help inform stakeholders (e.g., researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers) about the magnitude of falls in their states. Better understanding the cost-burden for fall-related hospitalization can help inform targeted interventions to slow the growing but preventable cost of falls across the U.S. This study can serve as a model for other states in the ongoing surveillance of the burden of falls.

Learning Areas:

Biostatistics, economics
Epidemiology
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the incidence of fall-related hospitalizations across Texas; Evaluate factors associated with fall-related hospitalizations including geographic and programmatic difference.

Keyword(s): Health Care Costs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract author on the content I am responsible for because I have successfully completed an MPH & a PhD in Public Health, am Certified in Public Health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners and am currently serving as an Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral fellow in the department of Health Promotion & Community Health Sciences at Texas A&M’s Health Science Center.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4262.0: Falls Prevention and Disability