Physical Therapy or Advanced Imaging as First Management Strategy Following a New Consultation for Low Back Pain in Primary Care: Associations with Future Health Care Utilization and Charges
Objective Compare health care utilization and charges for low‐back‐pain (LBP) patients receiving advanced imaging or physical therapy as a first management strategy following a new primary care consultation. Data Source Electronic medical record (EMR) and insurance claims data. Study Design Retrospe...
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Published in | Health services research Vol. 50; no. 6; pp. 1927 - 1940 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.12.2015
Health Research and Educational Trust John Wiley and Sons Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Objective
Compare health care utilization and charges for low‐back‐pain (LBP) patients receiving advanced imaging or physical therapy as a first management strategy following a new primary care consultation.
Data Source
Electronic medical record (EMR) and insurance claims data.
Study Design
Retrospective analysis of propensity‐matched groups.
Data Collection/Extraction
Claims and EMR data were used. Utilization and LBP‐related charges over a 1‐year period were extracted from claims data.
Principal Findings
In the propensity‐matched sample (n = 406), advanced imaging recipients had higher odds of all utilization outcomes. Charges were higher with advanced imaging by an average $4,793 (95 percent CI: $3,676, $5,910).
Conclusions
For patients with LBP whom newly consulted primary care referred for additional management, advanced imaging as a first management was associated with higher health care utilization and charges than physical therapy. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-C4GRZVGX-4 Appendix SA1: Author Matrix. istex:680FB5397663BBCC20AAA88DDF6EA51AF8FBEEBB ArticleID:HESR12301 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0017-9124 1475-6773 |
DOI: | 10.1111/1475-6773.12301 |