Impact of Physical Functioning of Health Status on Hospitalizations, Physician Visits, and Costs in Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Background The objective was to determine the impact of the physical functioning of diabetic patients on hospitalizations, physician visits, and costs using Medicare data. Methods A total of 12,863 people who completed the interview of the 1993 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) was studied. A diabetic patient was defined as a patient who answered this question positively: Are you diabetic? The final sample was made up of 10,517 non-diabetic patients and 2,003 diabetic patients. The Activity Daily Living (ADL) Scale of the MCBS was used to assess physical functioning. Hospitalizations, physician visits, and costs were obtained from the Medicare database. Results We found that diabetic patients had a worse perception of physical functioning than non-diabetic patients (ADL disability score 8.47 ± 15 vs. 5.8 ± 13). Patients with diabetes consume more resources and the costs associated with their medical care are higher than for non-diabetic patients (mean total reimbursement in 1993 for diabetics was 6,847 ± 15,071 USD vs. 3,773 ± 9,971 USD). Total costs were highly correlated with the ADL disability score ( r = 0.75). Conclusion Self-perception is highly correlated with the care cost of patients with diabetes.