Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Examining Costs of Chronic Conditions In a Medicaid Population
Feature article in Managed Care magazine that studies nine chroinic illnesses - among them, psychosis, depression and anxiety. "Psychosis and depression patients had the highest mean yearly costs at $6,964 and $5,505, respectively. Highest component costs were mental health practitioners for psychosis and hospital costs for depression. All other conditions had significantly lower yearly costs. Component costs consisted primarily of pharmacy and hospital costs. Psychosis was a component in 5 of the 7 most costly chronic-disease concurrences. The highest disease-concurrence mean cost was for psychosis and depression ($18,318)." (Adobe Acrobat)