Chronic Kidney Disease and Kidney Failure the Most Common Comorbidity of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

Median Charge for COVID-19 Hospitalization Ranges from $35,000 for Patients Aged 23-30 to $46,000 for Those Aged 51-60, per FAIR Health Study

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FAIR Health

Jul 14, 2020, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nationally and in every US census region,¹ chronic kidney disease and kidney failure were the most common comorbidity in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, accounting for 13 percent of all such patients in the period January-May 2020. All regions except one resembled the nation in having type 2 diabetes as the second most common comorbidity; the exception, the South, had hypertension in that rank. These are among the findings of FAIR Health's fourth COVID-19 study, Key Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients: Profiles Based on Analysis of Private Healthcare Claims.

This study uses the nation's largest repository of private healthcare claims to illuminate some of the key characteristics of patients diagnosed with COVID-19. These characteristics include age, gender, rural versus urban area by age, venue of care where first diagnosed, venue of care by age, comorbidities of hospitalized patients and median costs of hospitalization. The patient characteristics are analyzed nationally and also by US census region. The data studied are from the period January-May 2020. Among the other findings:

Nationally, the median charge amount for hospitalization of a COVID-19 patient ranged from $34,662 for the 23-30 age group to $45,683 for the 51-60 age group. The median estimated in-network amounts ranged from $17,094 for people over 70 years of age to $24,012 for people aged 51-60 years.
The West was the region with the widest range of costs for COVID-19 hospitalizations. There, median charge amounts ranged from $21,407 for the 19-22 age group to $93,459 for the over 70 age group. Median estimated in-network amounts ranged from $15,289 for the 19-22 age group to $60,205 for the over 70 age group.
Nationally, an office was the most common setting for initial presentation of patients with COVID-19: 33.3 percent of COVID-19 patients presented to an office and 23.0 percent presented to an inpatient facility. However, older people (age 61 and above) most commonly presented first to an inpatient setting.
In the Northeast, telehealth was more common for initial diagnosis of COVID-19 than emergency rooms (6.7 versus 6.2 percent of COVID-19 patients). The Northeast was the region with the highest percentage of COVID-19 patients who received their initial diagnosis via telehealth.
Nationally, males were associated with a larger share (54 percent) of the distribution of COVID-19 claim lines than females (46 percent).
Nationally, during the January-May time frame, COVID-19 was most commonly associated with the age group 51-60, which accounted for 29.9 percent of the distribution of claim lines with this diagnosis. Children (0-18 years) accounted for the smallest share, 1.5 percent. (It should be noted, however, that the age distribution may be in flux, with the average age of new COVID-19 patients in the United States having dropped by about 15 years compared with a few months ago, according to recent reports.)
In the South, Midwest and West, the age groups 19-30 and 31-40 accounted for larger shares of the distribution of claim lines than in the Northeast and the nation as a whole.
Across age groups on the national level, rural and urban areas were similar in their association with COVID-19 claim lines. In the largest age group, 51-60, rural and urban areas had almost identical shares of the COVID-19 claim line distribution, respectively 30.2 percent and 30.3 percent.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "Profiles of COVID-19 patients have many potential applications, including determining risk factors, influencing treatment protocols, setting priorities for eventual vaccination distribution, inspiring further research, and planning and budgeting for use of healthcare resources. FAIR Health presents this report to help support that broad range of applications by stakeholders throughout the healthcare sector."

This is the fourth in a series of briefs released by FAIR Health on the COVID-19 pandemic. The first brief examined projected US costs for COVID-19 patients requiring inpatient stays, the second the impact of the pandemic on hospitals and health systems, and the third the impact on healthcare professionals.

On July 16 from 2 to 3 pm ET, Ms. Gelburd will present a free webcast, "Using FAIR Health Data to Shed Light on the COVID-19 Pandemic," detailing the COVID-19 resources offered by FAIR Health, including this series of briefs. To register, click here.

For the new brief, click here.

About FAIR Health
FAIR Health, a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 31 billion claim records contributed by payors and administrators who insure or process claims for private insurance plans covering more than 150 million individuals. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data products—including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indices—to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish and an English/Spanish mobile app, which enable consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care—and How to Fix It and Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

¹ The states in the US census regions are:

Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont;
Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin;
South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia; and
West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.