One-year treatment costs of trauma care in the USA

Although injuries are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the USA, few prior studies exist on the costs of trauma care. This article estimates treatment costs of care for 12 months following injury. Primary and secondary data were collected on over 5000 moderate-to-severely injured patients 18-84 years of age discharged from 69 US hospitals. Acute and post-acute costs of care were estimated from a combination of data sources: UB92 hospital bills, patient surveys, medical record abstracts, and where available, Medicare claims. Key analysis variables were demographic characteristics, insurance status and nature and severity of injury. Mean 1-year cost per patient of trauma care in our population was $75,210. On average, 58% of cost was accounted for by the index hospitalization. Total 1-year treatment cost of adult major trauma in the USA was conservatively estimated to be US$27 billion annually (2005).