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Background: The number of patients with Parkinson's disease among older adults is rapidly increasing. Such patients mostly take medication and require regular physician visits. However, the effect of physician visit frequency for the treatment for Parkinson's disease has not been evaluated. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of physician visit frequency for Parkinson's disease treatment on mortality, healthcare days, and healthcare and long-term care costs among older adults.Methods: This study employed a retrospective cohort design utilizing claims data from the Fukuoka Prefecture Wide-Area Association of Latter-Stage Elderly Healthcare Insurance and Long-Term Care Insurance. Patients aged ≥75 years who were newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014 were included in this study, following the onset of Parkinson's disease to March 31, 2019. We calculated the restricted mean survival time to evaluate mortality, focusing on the frequency of physician visits for Parkinson's disease treatment. Inpatient days, outpatient days, and healthcare and long-term care costs per month were calculated using a generalized linear model.Results: There were 2224 participants, with 46.5% mortality among those with a higher frequency of physician visits and 56.4% among those with a lower frequency of physician visits. A higher frequency of physician visits was associated with a significant increase in survival time (1.57 months at 24 months and 5.00 months at 60 months) after the onset of Parkinson's disease and a decrease in inpatient days and healthcare costs compared to a lower frequency of physician visits.Conclusions: A higher frequency of physician visits was significantly associated with longer survival time, fewer inpatient days, and lower healthcare costs. Caregivers should support patients with Parkinson's disease to visit physicians regularly for their treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast-growing prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) creates a heavy burden for society and the health care system. Although different ways to mitigate the economic burden of PD have been discussed in the literature, including several effective treatments, few studies have paid attention to the effect of care rehabilitation (CR) on PD costs over a long-term care period. This study tracked medical expenses, care costs, and total costs of elderly individuals with PD for 3 years based on medical claims data merged with long-term care insurance (LTCI) claims data, and determined whether CR reduced PD costs. Using a retrospective, longitudinal cohort design, 3950 elderly individuals with PD who received LTCI services from April 2014 to March 2017 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan were followed. PD costs were compared between the CR group and the non-CR group, and a hierarchical linear model was used to examine whether CR was associated with medical expenses, care costs, and total costs. The mean value of total costs in fiscal years 2014, 2015, and 2016 were ¥3,124,944 (US$29,504), ¥3,328,398 (US$31,425), and ¥3,615,892 (US$34,140), respectively. In a hierarchical linear model, CR alone was not associated with medical expenses and care costs; additionally, CR had a positive association with higher total costs. However, the interaction term between CR and baseline care needs level significantly reduced care costs and total costs. That indicates that if older PD patients with higher care needs level receive CR, their care costs and total costs will be reduced. Further research is needed to clarify how CR reduces these patients' costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cost sharing, including copayment and coinsurance, is often used to contain medical expenditure by decreasing unnecessary or excessive use of healthcare resources. Previous studies in Japan have reported the effects of a coinsurance rate reduction for healthcare from 30 to 10% on the demand for healthcare among 70–74-year-old individuals. However, the coinsurance rate for this age group has recently increased from 10 to 20%. This study aimed to estimate the economic impact of coinsurance rate revision on healthcare resource utilization. Methods: We collected claims data from beneficiaries of the municipality National Health Insurance and the Japanese Health Insurance Association in Fukuoka Prefecture. We categorized subjects born between March 2, 1944 and April 1, 1944 into the 20% coinsurance rate reduction group and those born between April 2, 1944 and May 1, 1944 into the 10% reduction group. An interrupted time-series analysis for multiple groups was employed to compare healthcare resource utilization trends before and after coinsurance rate reduction at 70 years. Results: The 10% coinsurance rate reduction led to a significant increase in healthcare expenditure for outpatient care. The 20% reduction group showed a significantly sharper increase in healthcare expenditure for outpatient care than the 10% reduction group. Similarly, the 10% coinsurance group significantly increased in the number of ambulatory visits. The 20% coinsurance rate reduction group had more frequent ambulatory care visits than the 10% reduction group. Conclusions: These results suggest that increasing the coinsurance rate among the elderly would reduce outpatient healthcare resource utilization; however, it would not necessarily reduce overall healthcare resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to ascertain the degree of influence of income disparity among older people with newly developed dementia on the probability and duration of stay in a hospital or long-term care facility and the degree of influence on medical expenses for hospitalization and care costs.Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. Study participants included 12 829 individuals aged 75 years or older not diagnosed with dementia between April 2012 and March 2013 but newly diagnosed with dementia between April 2013 and March 2014. Participants were categorized according to income. We evaluated the associations of income with the probability and duration of stay in a hospital or long-term care facility and the costs for hospitalization and care.Results: In the adjusted analyses, high-income individuals had a lower probability of admission to a hospital or long-term care facility than middle- and high-income individuals. In all hospitals, low-income individuals had the longest duration of stay, but in long-term care facilities, income categories varied by facility type. Medical expenses for hospitalization and care costs were highest in the low-income group.Conclusion: Income category affects the probability and duration of stay in the hospital or a long-term care facility, as well as expenses for hospitalization and care. It is necessary to consider a policy to enable low-income older patients with dementia to continue living at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence rates of hip fracture have been increasing in Japan. Length of stay among hip fracture patients in Japan is much longer than other developed countries, and the Japanese government introduced financial incentives for regionally coordinated femoral neck fracture care to reduce health care resource utilization. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the financial incentives reduce health care resource utilization among patients 75 years or older with femoral neck fracture in Japan. Claims data from the Fukuoka Prefecture Regional Association for Late-Stage Healthcare for Older People were analyzed for the period from April 2010 to March 2016. The authors identified 4641 eligible subjects after femoral neck fracture surgery, and categorized them into groups based on care pathways: coordinated care, integrated care, and other. Length of stay by care phase and total charges were used as measures of health care resource utilization. The models showed that coordinated and integrated care were significantly associated with shorter length of stay during perioperative care: coordinated care, multiplicative effect, 0.90 (P < 0.001); integrated care, 0.77 (P < 0.001). However, only integrated care was associated with shorter rehabilitation and overall length of stay: 0.66 (P < 0.001) in rehabilitation; 0.70 (P < 0.001) in overall duration. Integrated care also was associated with lower total charges: 0.70 (P < 0.001). Current financial incentives for regionally coordinated femoral neck fracture care do not affect health care resource utilization. Further health care reforms should be implemented to promote effective regional care coordination in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the impact of inter-provider care coordination on health-care resource utilization among elderly acute stroke patients.Design: A retrospective cohort study using health-care insurance claims data.Setting: Claims data of the Fukuoka Prefecture Wide-Area Association of Latter-Stage Elderly Healthcare.Participants: About, 6409 patients aged 75 years or older admitted for acute stroke and moved to rehabilitation wards from 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2015.Main Outcome Measure: Lengths of stay (LOS) and total charge (TC) were evaluated according to three groups of care pathways (coordinated care, integrated care and other pathways).Results: Compared with the other care pathway, the coordinated care groups had significantly shorter LOS of 2.0 days in acute ischemic stroke care; they had 2.5 days shorter LOS in hemorrhagic stroke care. However, there were no significant differences in rehabilitation care LOS and TC.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that a payment system for care coordination is inappropriate since it was not associated with a reduction in overall health-care resource utilization. Further, health-care system reform is necessary to improve care continuity across multiple health-care institutions in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of expenditures for preventive health care services on health care costs among those insured with health insurance societies in Japan using cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. The subjects of the study were those insured with Japan's 1481 health insurance societies belonging to the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies in 2003 and 2007. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using the forced entry method. Case rates, number of service days, and health care costs were used as dependent variables, and preventive health care expenditures, average age, number of the insured, gender ratio, average monthly salary, and dependents ratio were used as independent variables. Expenditures for preventive health care services showed significant negative correlations with both the number of service days and health care costs for inpatient and outpatient services in 2003 and 2007. The results showed that expenditures for preventive health care services had a negative relationship with health care costs. Thus, these findings support the effects of investment in preventive health activities as promoted by health insurance societies to reduce health care costs. ( Population Health Management 2014;17:42-47) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The co-payment rate for health care services for insured people increased from 10% to 20% in 1997, and then to 30% in 2003 under the Employed Health Insurance System in Japan. The purpose of this study is to quantify the relationship between average monthly salary and health care service demand by different co-payment rates among the insured of health insurance societies in Japan. Data from the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies from 1996, 2002, and 2007 were analyzed. Indicators of health care service demand included case rates and number of service days per case for inpatient, outpatient, and dental services. The authors evaluated the relationship of average monthly salary with these indicators using multiple regression analyses for each of the 3 years. In the study, the average monthly salary showed a high positive correlation with outpatient and dental case rates for all 3 years. The magnitude of the relationship of average monthly salary to health care service demand was intensified as patient co-payment increased from 10% to 20%. However, it did not change when the co-payment increased from 20% to 30%. The increase in patient co-payment rate from 20% to 30% did not intensify the relationship between average monthly salary and health care service demand among the insured of health insurance societies in Japan. ( Population Health Management 2013:16:58-63) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: How to contain medical expenditures is a universal problem. The Japanese government has increased patient co-payments to control it. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether the increase in co-payments to 30 percent prevented patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus from receiving necessary care in the Employee Health Insurance System.Methods: The subjects were 211 patients with hypertension and 66 patients with diabetes mellitus who regularly visited physicians from October 2001 to March 2002 and were defined as a cohort that needed health care, and their medical indicators were examined between April and September 2002 (prestage) and between April and September 2003 (poststage).Results: In the hypertensive patients with no complications, the compliance rate was 89.9 percent and 88.0 percent in the prestage, and poststage, respectively, showing no significant change. In the hypertensive patients with complications, the compliance rate was 90.5 percent and 92.1 percent in the prestage and poststage, respectively, showing no significant change. In the diabetic patients with complications, the compliance rate was 77.5 percent and 79.2 percent, in the prestage and poststage, respectively, with no significant change. In the diabetic patients with no complications, however, the compliance rate was 83.7 percent and 66.7 percent, in the prestage and poststage, respectively. A significant decrease was observed among diabetic patients without complications.Conclusions: Increasing co-payments reduced necessary preventive care in diabetic patients without complications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Helicobacter pylori is regarded as an important cause of both peptic ulcer and chronic gastritis. In particular, seropositivity is highest in patients with duodenal ulcer. No studies have determined whether there are differences in the direct medical costs associated with gastric/duodenal ulcer or inflammation, between seropositive and seronegative patients.Objective: To examine the relationship between seropositivity for H. pylori and outpatient visits and direct medical costs for gastric/duodenal ulcer or inflammation in Japan from the perspective of the payor and patients.Methods: Participants were males (n = 653) who worked for an agricultural co-operative in Fukuoka Prefecture, attended an annual health examination (including a written lifestyle and medical survey), belonged to the same health insurance society consistently for 4 years from April 1996 to March 2000, and provided a blood sample. The survey asked about lifestyle, including smoking and drinking, and past medical history. We retrospectively analysed the annual number of outpatient visits per person and outpatient medical cost (Yen, 2000 values) per person for visits relating to gastric or duodenal ulcer or inflammation using International Classification of Diseases (9th edition) -- Clinical Modification codes. We assessed for potential confounding factors using analysis of covariance and the chi-square test.Results: The annual outpatient incidence of disease, the number of visits to physicians, and the medical costs for gastric or duodenal ulcer or inflammation were about 2-fold greater in individuals with antibodies to H. pylori compared with those without antibodies.Conclusion: Population-based studies and/or randomised controlled clinical trials that target high-risk groups and account for the unique way in which data are collected in Japan are needed to determine whether medical costs for gastric and duodenal ulcer might be reduced by treating asymptomatic patients who have antibodies to H. pylori. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]