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Study: PAP adherence saves money

Study: PAP adherence saves money

BALTIMORE, Md. – Medicare beneficiaries with common chronic health conditions who complied with PAP therapy saw reduced costs, according to a new study. The study, led by Emerson M. Wickwire, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, along with researchers from EnsoData and Santa Barbara Actuaries, found 45% of beneficiaries in the sample were adherent to PAP, 10% were non-adherent, and 44% did not initiate PAP, based on Medicare policy. Relative to non-initiators, beneficiaries who initiated PAP displayed $195 reduced per-member per-month costs over 24 months. This finding remained consistent across all seven medical and psychiatric subgroups, as well as among individuals with multimorbidity, the found. Researchers looked at a random sample of 28,220 newly diagnosed OSA patients over the age of 65. Common chronic conditions included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, depression, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity and stroke. Exclusion criteria included evidence of prior OSA treatment during the 12 months prior to the index date, active cancer or end-stage renal disease. Risk adjustment was based on the CMS-HCC approach developed by CMS specifically to estimate anticipated costs. To examine the impact of PAP adherence on costs, researchers employed a weighted DID regression framework to account for baseline variations in health status and other confounding factors. 

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