Prosthetic cost projections for servicemembers with major limb loss from Vietnam and OIF/OEF

Abstract

This study projects prosthetic- and assistive-device costs for veterans with limb loss from Vietnam and injured servicemembers returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) to inform the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for these veterans' future care. The 2005 Medicare prosthetic device component prices were applied to current prosthetic and assistive-device use obtained from a national survey of 581 veterans and servicemembers with major traumatic amputations. Projections were made for 5-year, 10-year, 20-year, and lifetime costs based on eight Markov models. Average 5-year projected costs for prosthetic and assistive-device replacement for the Vietnam group are lower than for the OIF/OEF cohort due in part to use of fewer and less technologically advanced prosthetic devices and higher frequency of prosthetic abandonment. By limb-loss level, for the Vietnam group and OIF/OEF cohort, 5-year projected unilateral upper limb average costs are $31,129 and $117,440, unilateral lower limb costs are $82,251 and $228,665, and multiple limb costs are $130,890 and $453,696, respectively. These figures provide the VA with a funding estimate for technologically advanced prosthetic and assistive devices within the framework of ongoing rehabilitation for veterans with traumatic limb loss from the Vietnam and OIF/OEF conflicts.