Integrated Care Matters
The Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research has studied the costs of healthcare and reported on the largest expenditures by class for 2006:
In terms of health care expenditures, the same five conditions were ranked as the five most costly conditions in 1996 and 2006. There was an increase in the expenditures for each of these conditions when comparing them over time. The five most costly conditions were: heart disease, trauma-related disorders, cancer, asthma, and mental disorders. During this period, the largest increase in expenditures was for mental disorders and trauma-related disorders. The expenditures for mental disorders rose from $35.2 billion in 1996 (in 2006 dollars) to 57.5 billion in 2006. Medical expenditures on trauma-related disorders also increased substantially from 1996 (in 2006 dollars) to 2006, $46.2 billion to $68.1 billion.
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These five medical conditions—heart conditions, cancer, trauma-related disorders, mental disorders, and asthma—ranked highest in terms of direct medical spending in 1996 and 2006.
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The relative increase in medical expenditures was highest for mental disorders and trauma-related disorders between 1996 and 2006.
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The number of people accounting for expenses for mental disorders almost doubled from 19.3 million to 36.2 million.
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Among these five medical conditions, mean expenditures per person were highest for cancer and heart disease for both 1996 and 2006.
