| PMC full text: | Published online 2013 Aug 1. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12098
|
Table 2
Unadjusted Health Care Costs and Utilization by Imaging Category
| Adherence to Clinical Practice Guidelines That Advise Against Early MRI for Patients without “Red Flags” | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonadherent (N = 336) | Adherent (N = 1434) | p-value | |
| Any utilization of services, % | |||
| MRI | 100.0 | 17.8 | <.001 |
| CT | 5.4 | 3.1 | .048 |
| Radiograph | 30.4 | 18.1 | <.001 |
| Injection | 40.8 | 6.9 | <.001 |
| Surgery | 19.9 | 2.5 | <.001 |
| Number of visits, mean (SD)* | |||
| Chiropractic | 14.7 (28.1) | 13.9 (24.2) | .641 |
| PT/OT | 18.4 (19.9) | 6.8 (13.8) | <.001 |
| Outpatient | 12.2 (8.0) | 4.3 (6.1) | <.001 |
| Costs, mean (SD)*† | |||
| Outpatient services | $7,583 (5,147) | $2,807 (4,084) | <.001 |
| Inpatient services | 1,702 (2,445) | 388 (1,077) | <.001 |
| Non-medical‡ | 2,425 (3,347) | 670 (2,062) | <.001 |
| Disability compensation | 10,442 (10,916) | 2,775 (6,089) | <.001 |
| Total costs | 22,151 (17,092) | 6,640 (11,019) | <.001 |
*Mean number of visits and mean costs include all workers, including nonusers and those with zero costs.
†Costs refer to total reimbursed amounts for procedures and visits that occurred within 1 year following injury, inflation adjusted to 2005 equivalents, based on Medical Consumer Price Index.
‡Nonmedical costs include reimbursement for vocational (return-to-work) assistance or rehabilitation, employability assessments, worker transportation, medical devices, and other costs not included in other cost categories.
Nonadherent group reflects workers who received an MRI within the first 6 weeks of injury. Adherent group reflects workers who received an MRI after the first 6 weeks of injury (N = 255) or did not receive an MRI at all (N = 1,179).
Values are counts (percentages) and unadjusted means (SD) as indicated. p-values indicate unadjusted comparison using chi-squared or t-tests.
CT, computed tomography (lumbar); MRI, magnetic resonance imaging (lumbar); PT/OT, physical therapy or occupational therapy.