UTILIZATION AND COST OF HEALTH SERVICES BY CDUs

描述：（申请人提供） 美国的传统观点是，在其他条件不变的情况下， 行为健康问题，如吸毒成瘾，消耗过量 相对于那些没有行为健康的人来说， 问题.尽管很少有研究利用质量来研究这个问题 数据或当代统计方法，最近的一些研究 表明慢性药物使用者（即，每周或更频繁地使用 非法药物在前一年）一般消耗更昂贵的健康 护理（例如，急诊室就诊、住院天数），但不太常规 和预防性护理（例如，门诊和医生访问）（法文， McGeary等人，2000; McGeary和French，2000; French等人，即将出版）。 根据对佛罗里达迈阿密的慢性吸毒者进行的一项研究， （French，McGeary等人，2000年）， 保健服务的使用每年可能超过1 000美元。鉴于需要 目前的和具有国家代表性的资料， 药物滥用者的卫生服务利用，这项研究应用将 估计慢性病患者利用保健服务和保健服务费用的差异 吸毒者相对于非慢性吸毒者和使用最多的非吸毒者 最近公布的关于药物滥用的全国家庭调查的公共使用文件（即， 1999年）。拟议的二次分析研究具有重要的政策意义 因为很少有科学信息是关于利用和成本 长期吸毒者的健康服务。这些信息对于 政策制定者、药物滥用项目人员和卫生保健提供者， 他们会考虑并决定是否采取成瘾干预措施。研究意义 也很高，因为最近的研究使用了当代的医疗服务， 研究方法，以估计医疗保健的药物利用和成本 用户.然而，由于这些研究分析了区域数据， 确定区域结果是否与估计相似很重要 来自国家数据。最后，对长期吸毒者的检查 与非慢性吸毒者和所有吸毒者相比， 药物滥用研究人员和治疗提供者认识到， 用户不应被视为一个同质组。

DESCRIPTION: (provided by applicant) A conventional view in the U.S. is that, ceteris paribus, individuals with a behavioral health problem(s), such as drug addiction, consume excessive amounts of health care relative to individuals who do not have a behavioral health problem. Although little research has examined this issue employing quality data or contemporary statistical methods, a few recent studies have demonstrated that chronic drug users (i.e., weekly or more frequent use of illicit drugs during the previous year) generally consume more expensive health care (e.g., emergency room visits, inpatient hospital days), but less routine and preventative care (e.g., outpatient clinic and physician visits) (French, McGeary, et al., 2000; McGeary and French, 2000; French, et al., forthcoming). According to one study conducted on chronic drug users in Miami, Florida (French, McGeary, et al., 2000), the estimated differential in the cost of health services utilization may amount to over $1,000 per year. Given the need for current and nationally representative information on the type and cost of health services utilization by drug abusers, this research application will estimate differentials in utilization and cost of health services by chronic drug users relative to non-chronic drug users and non-drug users using the most recent public use file of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (i.e., 1999). The proposed secondary analysis study has important policy implications because little scientific information is available on the utilization and cost of health services by chronic drug users. Such information is crucial for policy makers, substance abuse program personnel, and health care providers as they consider and decide on addiction interventions. The research significance is also high because recent studies have used contemporary health services research methods to estimate the utilization and cost of health care for drug users. However, since these studies have analyzed regional data, it is important to determine whether the regional results are similar to estimates derived from national data. Finally, the examination of chronic drug users versus non-chronic drug users and all drug users contributes to the growing recognition among substance abuse researchers and treatment providers that drug users should not be treated as a 1 homogeneous group.