Outpatient visits drive healthcare resource utilization in children with ALGS

There is substantial healthcare resource utilization (HRU) in children with Alagille syndrome (ALGS), caused in part by multiple outpatient visits and costly inpatient stays, according to a study.

Researchers suggested that multidisciplinary and subspecialized care may be beneficial to these patients.

In this retrospective analysis, the HRU from October 1, 2015 through December 31, 2019 was summarized for 171 commercially-insured and 215 Medicaid-insured patients with ALGS per year over all available claims post-diagnosis.

For commercially-insured patients, there was an average of 31 medical visits (range 1.5-237) and for Medicaid-insured patients, 48 medical visits (range 0.7-690). The most common visits were outpatient, of which lab/imaging and primary care visits were the most common. In both groups, inpatient visits were the highest driver of costs.

Reference
Ebel NH, Goldstein A, Howard R, et al. Healthcare Resource Utilization by Patients with Alagille Syndrome. J Pediatr. 2022;S0022-3476(22)00855-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.09.033. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36179890.