Impact of medications for opioid use disorder on healthcare resource utilization and costs for patients served by a state Medicaid program An exploratory retrospective matched-cohort analysis of South Carolina Medicaid claims data
Abstract
Objectives: Although evidence-based recommendations from treatment guidelines support the use of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in addition to psychosocial counseling, about 86.6% of patients diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) do not receive MOUD and several barriers still restrict access to MOUD in the United States. This study assesses the impact of MOUD on healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs for Medicaid beneficiaries.
Methods: An exploratory retrospective matched-cohort analysis was performed among Medicaid patients not concurrently enrolled in Medicare using anonymized claims data from South Carolina Medicaid between 7/1/2016 and 12/31/2019. Patients newly diagnosed with OUD who received MOUD were matched based on age, gender, and race to patients who did not receive MOUD to evaluate HCRU and costs in the 6 months prior to and 12 months following initial OUD diagnosis.
Results: A total of 397 matched pairs of MOUD and non-MOUD patients were identified for this analysis. A significantly lower percentage of patients had emergency department visits (63.2% vs 74.3%; P=0.0005) and hospitalizations (21.9% vs 37.8%; P<0.0001) in the matched MOUD cohort compared to the non-MOUD cohort. All-cause total direct costs were numerically lower for the matched MOUD cohort ($15,212 vs $17,451; P=0.3388), as numerically higher all-cause pharmacy costs associated with MOUD utilization were offset by significantly lower all-cause medical costs compared to the non-MOUD cohort ($9,265 vs $14,819; P=0.0005).
Conclusions: The results of this analysis suggest that MOUD utilization has a positive association with reducing HCRU and all-cause medical costs for Medicaid patients with OUD.
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References
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