Direct Medical Expenditure and Healthcare Utilization with Mental Disorders among Hispanic Population using Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 2013-2017

Abstract

This study sought to assess how mental disorders’ incidence affects healthcare cost and utilization amongst the U.S. Hispanic population from 2013-2017. Using 2013-2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data, a retrospective database analysis was conducted for the Hispanic population with mental disorders. Study outcomes were mental disorder incidence, healthcare utilization, and healthcare cost among the Hispanic population. All-cause direct medical utilization and expenditures were calculated for the following categories of health care services: inpatient hospitalizations, hospital outpatient visits, emergency room visits, office-based physician visits, home health care visits, and prescription medications. From the MEPS data, 4,122 respondents with a mental disorder (weighted sample size: 4,789,634) and 30,312 without a mental disorder (weighted sample size: 33,893,665) were identified. A significant trend appeared through the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) with gamma distribution and log-link function. The mental disorder group had markedly higher adjusted expenditures on emergency room visits, hospital outpatients, physician visits, home healthcare, and prescriptions compared to non-mental disorder patients (p