Direct medical charges of pediatric traumatic brain injury in multiple clinical settings

Christy L Collins; Keith Owen Yeates; Thomas L Pommering; Rebecca Andridge; Victor G Coronado; Julie Gilchrist; R Dawn Comstock

doi:10.1186/2197-1714-1-13

Direct medical charges of pediatric traumatic brain injury in multiple clinical settings

Inj Epidemiol. 2014 Dec;1(1):13. doi: 10.1186/2197-1714-1-13. Epub 2014 May 6.

Authors

Christy L Collins¹, Keith Owen Yeates^{2

3}, Thomas L Pommering^{4

5}, Rebecca Andridge⁶, Victor G Coronado⁷, Julie Gilchrist⁷, R Dawn Comstock⁸

Affiliations

¹ Center for Injury Research and Policy, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
² Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
³ Center for Biobehavioral Health, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
⁵ Division of Sports Medicine Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
⁶ Division of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
⁷ Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁸ Colorado School of Public Health, Epidemiology and Pediatric Injury Prevention, Education, and Research (PIPER) Program, Aurora, CO, USA. dawn.comstock@ucdenver.edu.

Abstract

Background: Data limited to emergency department and inpatient visits undoubtedly underestimate the medical charges associated with traumatic brain injury. The objective of this study was to estimate the direct medical charges of pediatric traumatic brain injuries across all clinical settings in one large, pediatric hospital in the United States.

Methods: Traumatic brain injuries sustained by children ≤20 years of age treated across all clinical settings at one large pediatric hospital from August 1, 2010-July 31, 2011 were identified using ICD-9-CM codes 310.2, 800-801.9, 803-804.9, 850-854.16, and 959.01.

Results: 3,971 individuals ≤20 years of age were seen during 5,429 traumatic brain injury-related visits. Total medical charges for pediatric traumatic brain injury-related visits were $13,131,547. Inpatient (68.7%) and emergency department (16.1%) visits accounted for the highest proportion of TBI-related charges; however, >15% of all charges were associated with visits to clinic outpatient, urgent care, and diagnostic/therapy outpatient settings. Fracture of the vault or base of the skull (37.1%) and brain injury with contusion, laceration, or hemorrhage (27.1%) accounted for the largest proportion of total charges. Although unspecified head injuries made up almost half of all TBI-related visits (47.4%), they accounted for only 12.6% of total charges. Mild traumatic brain injuries accounted for 92.0% of all traumatic brain injury-related visits but only 44.7% of all traumatic brain injury-related charges. Mild traumatic brain injuries treated in the emergency department had a higher median total charge than those treated in urgent care (p < 0.0001) or clinic outpatient setting (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: This study, the first to evaluate the direct medical charges of pediatric traumatic brain injury across all clinical settings at one large pediatric hospital, found that pediatric traumatic brain injuries present to a wide variety of clinical settings, and differences exist in total charges by diagnosis, severity of the injury, and clinical site/setting. Investigating traumatic brain injuries across the full spectrum of clinical care is needed for a better understanding of the true medical cost and public health burden of pediatric traumatic brain injury.

Keywords: Children; Medical charges; Traumatic brain injury.