Inpatient Care Costs Steadily Climbing for Children With Cerebral Palsy

WASHINGTON – Hospital stays for children with cerebral palsy are getting shorter, but the costs for those stays are steadily increasing, putting an even greater financial burden on a population that accounts for a large percentage of all pediatric medical costs.

Inpatient charges for the care of children with cerebral palsy is on pace to increase faster than the rate of inflation, said Dr. Amy Newmeyer of Ohio State University, Columbus.

“Because there’s not a cure [for cerebral palsy], the economic burden over a lifetime is high,” she said at the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine meeting. According to data from a national cost analysis developed by Dr. Newmeyer and her colleagues, in the mid-1990s, lifetime health care costs for children with CP were estimated at $500,000 per patient. By 2006, the estimated pediatric inpatient cost for CP exceeded $810 million per year.

Thirteen percent of all children are considered Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN), but they account for about 70% of all pediatric medical costs. Of the children that fall into that category, cerebral palsy represents the highest costs of 18 evaluated congenital disorders. Dr. Newmeyer and her colleagues extracted data from the Kids’ Inpatient Database of the Healthcare Costs and Utilization Project (HCUP-KID) for the years 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006.

In 2006, there were 37,006 hospital admissions of children with CP – this may include multiple admissions for a single child, Dr. Newmeyer noted. The length of stay did decrease from 6.22 days to 5.84 days, yet hospital charges per day increased 48% from $2,989 in 1997 to $4,411 in 2006. All of the data were corrected for an estimated 5% per year health care inflation rate.

Dr. Newmeyer reported children’s hospitals showed the largest increases in total charge per admission, compared with general hospitals. The mean charge per stay at children’s hospitals increased from $19,258 in 1997 to $24,328 in 2006.

The most common admissions were lower respiratory infections (20%) and epilepsy (17%) among this population. Dr. Newmeyer emphasized the importance of improving comprehensive and outpatient care to help reduce the number of potentially preventable admissions.

Dr. Newmeyer said she had no relevant disclosures.

WASHINGTON – Hospital stays for children with cerebral palsy are getting shorter, but the costs for those stays are steadily increasing, putting an even greater financial burden on a population that accounts for a large percentage of all pediatric medical costs.

Inpatient charges for the care of children with cerebral palsy is on pace to increase faster than the rate of inflation, said Dr. Amy Newmeyer of Ohio State University, Columbus.

“Because there’s not a cure [for cerebral palsy], the economic burden over a lifetime is high,” she said at the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine meeting. According to data from a national cost analysis developed by Dr. Newmeyer and her colleagues, in the mid-1990s, lifetime health care costs for children with CP were estimated at $500,000 per patient. By 2006, the estimated pediatric inpatient cost for CP exceeded $810 million per year.

Thirteen percent of all children are considered Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN), but they account for about 70% of all pediatric medical costs. Of the children that fall into that category, cerebral palsy represents the highest costs of 18 evaluated congenital disorders. Dr. Newmeyer and her colleagues extracted data from the Kids’ Inpatient Database of the Healthcare Costs and Utilization Project (HCUP-KID) for the years 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006.

In 2006, there were 37,006 hospital admissions of children with CP – this may include multiple admissions for a single child, Dr. Newmeyer noted. The length of stay did decrease from 6.22 days to 5.84 days, yet hospital charges per day increased 48% from $2,989 in 1997 to $4,411 in 2006. All of the data were corrected for an estimated 5% per year health care inflation rate.

Dr. Newmeyer reported children’s hospitals showed the largest increases in total charge per admission, compared with general hospitals. The mean charge per stay at children’s hospitals increased from $19,258 in 1997 to $24,328 in 2006.

The most common admissions were lower respiratory infections (20%) and epilepsy (17%) among this population. Dr. Newmeyer emphasized the importance of improving comprehensive and outpatient care to help reduce the number of potentially preventable admissions.

Dr. Newmeyer said she had no relevant disclosures.

WASHINGTON – Hospital stays for children with cerebral palsy are getting shorter, but the costs for those stays are steadily increasing, putting an even greater financial burden on a population that accounts for a large percentage of all pediatric medical costs.

Inpatient charges for the care of children with cerebral palsy is on pace to increase faster than the rate of inflation, said Dr. Amy Newmeyer of Ohio State University, Columbus.

“Because there’s not a cure [for cerebral palsy], the economic burden over a lifetime is high,” she said at the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine meeting. According to data from a national cost analysis developed by Dr. Newmeyer and her colleagues, in the mid-1990s, lifetime health care costs for children with CP were estimated at $500,000 per patient. By 2006, the estimated pediatric inpatient cost for CP exceeded $810 million per year.

Thirteen percent of all children are considered Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN), but they account for about 70% of all pediatric medical costs. Of the children that fall into that category, cerebral palsy represents the highest costs of 18 evaluated congenital disorders. Dr. Newmeyer and her colleagues extracted data from the Kids’ Inpatient Database of the Healthcare Costs and Utilization Project (HCUP-KID) for the years 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006.

In 2006, there were 37,006 hospital admissions of children with CP – this may include multiple admissions for a single child, Dr. Newmeyer noted. The length of stay did decrease from 6.22 days to 5.84 days, yet hospital charges per day increased 48% from $2,989 in 1997 to $4,411 in 2006. All of the data were corrected for an estimated 5% per year health care inflation rate.

Dr. Newmeyer reported children’s hospitals showed the largest increases in total charge per admission, compared with general hospitals. The mean charge per stay at children’s hospitals increased from $19,258 in 1997 to $24,328 in 2006.

The most common admissions were lower respiratory infections (20%) and epilepsy (17%) among this population. Dr. Newmeyer emphasized the importance of improving comprehensive and outpatient care to help reduce the number of potentially preventable admissions.

Dr. Newmeyer said she had no relevant disclosures.