Analysis of Hospitalization Length of Stay and Total Charges for Patients with Drug Abuse Comorbidity

Background Drug abuse has been on the increase over the last few years, contributing to the healthcare cost. An understanding of the overall impact of drug abuse hospitalizations is essential in combatting the drug abuse epidemic. Objective To evaluate inpatient outcomes of total charges and length of stay for patients with drug abuse comorbidity compared to non-drug abuse admissions. Method The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample data was utilized. Drug abuse comorbidity was used as defined by HCUP. Various descriptive and inferential analyses were performed on the filtered data sets for the years 2010 to 2014. Results The average hospitalization length of stay was 4.5 days for non-drug abuse and 5.5 days for drug abuse comorbidity (P < 0.001). Mean charges for drug abuse comorbidity were significant for claims to private insurance and Medicaid. Conclusion Total charges and length of stay are higher for drug abuse than non-drug abuse cases. The results will aid as a reference for resource allocation and policy changes. Further research is needed for alternative and innovative interventions for conditions that are identified to be co-existing with drug abuse comorbidity.