Sunday, May 08, 2011

Healthcare Costlier All Around for Afib Patients - in Clinical Context, Strokes from MedPage Today

I had no idea that A-fib was so expensive! Atrial fibrillation patients are generally sicker than those who don't have atrial fibrillation which apparently accounts for the higher costs. According to this article
Treating patients with atrial fibrillation costs the U.S. an estimated $26 billion more per year than treating patients who don't have the condition, researchers reported after extrapolating 2008 data for 2010.

Total direct medical costs were estimated to be 73% higher in atrial fibrillation patients than in matched control subjects, representing a net incremental cost of $8,705 per patient per year, according to Michael H. Kim, MD, from Northwestern University in Chicago, and colleagues.

The estimated annual cost included $6 billion related directly to atrial fibrillation, $9.9 billion for cardiovascular risk factors or disease, and $10.1 billion for noncardiovascular medical problems, according to the study published online in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
Medical News: Healthcare Costlier All Around for Afib Patients - in Clinical Context, Strokes from MedPage Today

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sat across the table from a trauma surgeon at a recent Medical conference. As we chatted he mentioned that there is a huge problem with all the seniors taking coumadin for AF. They accidentally fall down and get a little knock on the head and that turns into a full blown brain bleed. As an ER/trauma doc he sees this all the time. He thinks coumadin is over-prescribed. But I hope you are not saying the government should get more involved in this. The gov. should stay out of health decisions including women's reproductive rights.

Norma said...

Oh, so you're not a fan of Obamacare either?

Anonymous said...

"reproductive rights" aka killing a baby