Reports Summarize Multiple Sclerosis Findings from T. Livingston and Co-Authors (Quantifying Differences in Health Care Consumption for the…

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Reports Summarize Multiple Sclerosis Findings from T. Livingston and Co-Authors (Quantifying Differences in Health Care Consumption for the Management of Multiple Sclerosis Within Privately and Publicly Insured Health Care Programs)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Current study results on Autoimmune Diseases and Conditions - Multiple Sclerosis have been published. According to news reporting originating from Weston, Massachusetts, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and debilitating disease of the central nervous system that affects more than 570,000 persons in the United States and 2.3 million worldwide. Since most individuals experience initial symptoms between the ages of 20 and 40 years, MS can have a significant effect on health care consumption, quality of life, productivity, and employment over the long-term disease course."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research, "Opportunities exist to better understand how benefit design and other nonclinical factors can affect health care delivery and associated costs. To observe and report variances in health care consumed for the treatment of MS in patients enrolled in privately (commercial) and publicly (Medicaid) funded health insurance programs. In a retrospective analysis using Haves Gemini's proprietary MS Benchmarks Disease-Modeling Process and IMS LifeLink Health Plan Claims and Longitudinal Prescriptions databases, integrated medical and pharmacy claims data were analyzed to select patients with a diagnosis of MS during the 2012 calendar year. Comorbidities were determined using ICD-9-CM codes present on medical claims. Prescription drug use was evaluated by pharmacy claims and drug-specific billing codes. 19,984 patients with MS were identified-18,269 from commercial payers and 1,715 from Medicaid. Although total annual costs related to the: care of MS for the groups reflected a relatively small difference ($31,107 commercial; $33,344 Medicaid), costs associated with specific service categories varied greatly. Pharmacy costs were considerably less in the Medicaid group; however, inpatient and emergency room costs were as much as 5 times higher. Overall use of disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) in the Medicaid group was seen in 32.5% of patients and 52.1% in the commercial patient group. Thus, lower pharmacy costs in the Medicaid group were possibly related to lesser use of DMTs among that group of patients. This analysis illustrates that notable variances exist in consumption of health care resources between patients enrolled in privately and publicly funded health care programs."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "These variances may have additional implications relating to outcomes specific to MS."

For more information on this research see: Quantifying Differences in Health Care Consumption for the Management of Multiple Sclerosis Within Privately and Publicly Insured Health Care Programs. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, 2016;22(12):1385-1391. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy can be contacted at: Acad Managed Care Pharmacy, 100 N Pitt St, 400, Alexandria, VA 22314-3134, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting T. Livingston, Biogen, Weston, MA 02493, United States. Additional authors for this research include M. Fay, R. Iyer, W. Wells and M.W. Pill.

Keywords for this news article include: Weston, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America, Autoimmune Diseases and Conditions of the Nervous System, Immune System Diseases and Conditions, Demyelinating Diseases and Conditions, CNS Demyelinating Autoimmune Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Neuroimmunology, Health Policy, Medicaid, Neurology.