Data on Medicare and Medicaid Reported by Researchers at Stanford University (Costs and Financial Burden of Initial Hospitalizations for Firearm…

Managed Care Weekly Digest

Data on Medicare and Medicaid Reported by Researchers at Stanford University (Costs and Financial Burden of Initial Hospitalizations for Firearm Injuries in the United States, 2006-2014)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Investigators publish new report on Medicare and Medicaid. According to news reporting originating from Stanford, California, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "To quantify the inflation-adjusted costs associated with initial hospitalizations for firearm-related injuries in the United States. We used the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample to identify patients admitted for firearm-related injuries from 2006 to 2014."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Stanford University, "We converted charges from hospitalization to costs, which we inflation-adjusted to 2014 dollars. We used survey weights to create national estimates. Costs for the initial inpatient hospitalization totaled $6.61 billion. The largest proportion was for patients with governmental insurance coverage, totaling $2.70 billion (40.8%) and was divided between Medicaid ($2.30 billion) and Medicare ($0.40 billion). Self-pay individuals accounted for $1.56 billion ( 23.6%) in costs. From 2006 to 2014, the cost of initial hospitalizations for firearm-related injuries averaged $734.6 million per year. Medicaid paid one third and self-pay patients one quarter of the financial burden. These figures substantially underestimate true health care costs. Public health implications."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Firearm-related injuries are costly to the US health care system and are particularly burdensome to government insurance and the self-paying poor."

For more information on this research see: Costs and Financial Burden of Initial Hospitalizations for Firearm Injuries in the United States, 2006-2014. American Journal of Public Health, 2017;107(5):770-774. American Journal of Public Health can be contacted at: Amer Public Health Assoc Inc, 800 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001-3710, USA (see also Medicare and Medicaid).

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting S.A. Spitzer, Stanford University, Sch Med, Stanford, CA 94305, United States. Additional authors for this research include K.L. Staudenmayer, L. Tennakoon, D.A. Spain and T.G. Weiser.

Keywords for this news article include: Stanford, California, United States, North and Central America, Medicare and Medicaid, Investment and Finance, Health Policy, Medicaid, Stanford University.