Tuberculosis hospitalization expenditures per patient from private health insurance claims data, 2010-2014

To determine hospitalization expenditures for tuberculosis (TB) disease among privately insured patients in the United States.

We extracted TB hospital admissions data from the 2010-2014 MarketScan® commercial database using International Classification of Diseases version 9 codes for TB (011.0-018.96) as the principal diagnosis. We estimated adjusted average expenditures (in 2014 USD) using regression analyses controlling for patient and claim characteristics. We also estimated the total expenditure paid by enrollee and insurance, and extrapolated it to the entire US employer-based privately insured population.

We found 892 TB hospitalizations representing 825 unique enrollees over the 5-year period. The average hospitalization expenditure per person (including multiple hospitalizations) was US$33 085 (95%CI US$31 606- US$34 565). Expenditures for central nervous system TB (US$73 065, 95%CI US$59 572-US$86 558), bone and joint TB (US$56 842, 95%CI US$39 301-US$74 383), and miliary/disseminated TB (US$55 487, 95%CI US$46 101-US$64 873) were significantly higher than those for pulmonary TB (US$28 058, 95%CI US$26 632-US$29 484). The overall total expenditure for hospitalizations for TB disease over the period (2010-2014) was US$38.4 million; it was US$154 million when extrapolated to the entire employer-based privately insured population in the United States.

Hospitalization expenditures for some forms of extra-pulmonary TB were substantially higher than for pulmonary TB.