Research Conducted at Department of Anesthesiology Has Provided New Information about Rheumatoid Arthritis (Comparison of outpatient reimbursement…

Research Conducted at Department of Anesthesiology Has Provided New Information about Rheumatoid Arthritis (Comparison of outpatient reimbursement for interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis treatment in Taiwan: A ...)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- New research on Autoimmune Diseases and Conditions - Rheumatoid Arthritis is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Taichung, Taiwan, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "This study compared Taiwanese public health insurance outpatient reimbursements for interstitial cystitis (IC)/bladder pain syndrome (BPS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment. This observational study used data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database between 2002 and 2013."

Financial support for this research came from Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the Department of Anesthesiology, "Patients with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes for IC/BPS and RA were selected and matched in a ratio of 1:5 based on index year. After adjustment for possible confounders, including age, sex, income, hospital levels of care, and reimbursements for 24 comorbidities, yearly and per-visit pharmacy, non-pharmacy, and total claims were determined. In all, 1438 IC/BPS and 7190 RA patients were identified in the database. IC/BPS patients were significantly younger, and the proportion of females in this group was higher. Income levels were lower in the IC/BPS cohort, but not significantly. There were no significant differences between cohorts in terms of reimbursements for treatment for comorbidities, with the exception of end-stage renal disease, for which reimbursement was higher in the RA cohort. After adjusting for confounders, the regression coefficient for IC/BPS to RA was significantly lower for yearly total pharmacy claims, yearly total claims, per-visit pharmacy claims, and total claims per visit. Outpatient reimbursement was significantly lower for IC/BPS than for RA treatment, primarily with regard to pharmacy costs. This indicates less medical utilization for IC/BPS, possibly due to poor treatment outcomes and copayment polices."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Further advances in the treatment of IC/BPS and health budget reallocation are encouraged."

For more information on this research see: Comparison of outpatient reimbursement for interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis treatment in Taiwan: A nationwide population-based study. Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms, 2018;():.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting H.Y. Lin, Dept. of Anesthesiology, Feng Yuan Hospital, Taichung, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan. Additional authors for this research include M.H. Lee, K.M. Chang and H.C Wu.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/luts.12238. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Taichung, Pain Syndromes, Health Insurance, Health and Medicine, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Joint Diseases and Conditions, Autoimmune Diseases and Conditions, Musculoskeletal Diseases and Conditions.

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