Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved several glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists for long-term weight management. We characterized patients with obesity receiving GLP-1 treatment in an elective outpatient setting and compared their healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) before vs. after the start of GLP-1 treatment in the U.S. using the Premier Healthcare Database (PHD).
METHODS: Patients were ≥ 18 years old, diagnosed with obesity (BMI ≥ 30), non-diabetic, without bariatric surgery, and with an elective outpatient encounter in which they received GLP-1 treatment (index encounter) between 01/01/2020 and 12/31/2022. Number of outpatient visits and inpatient hospitalizations, length of stay (LOS), and costs were evaluated 1-year before vs. 1-year after a 3-month gap from the start of GLP-1 treatment, using repeated-measure logistic regressions and paired t-tests. GLP-1 costs were included in total costs.
RESULTS: Patients (N = 176,586) were 57 years old on average (SD = 15), mostly women (62%), White (79%), and on commercial insurance (44%) or Medicare (38%). After (vs. before) start of GLP-1 treatment, patients were less likely to have any outpatient visits (43% vs. 60%, p < 0.001), yet had a small increase of $114 in annual outpatient visit cost on average (95% CI = $98 - 130, p < 0.001). Moreover, patients were slightly more likely to have any hospitalization (6.6% vs. 6.2%, p < 0.001), had a small increase in mean annual hospitalization cost of $247 (95% CI = $224 - 271, p < 0.001), and had slightly longer LOS after (vs. before) start of GLP-1 treatment (mean difference [95% CI] = 0.47 days [0.40 - 0.53], p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: After start of GLP-1 treatment, patients were less likely to have outpatient visits, but number of hospitalizations, costs, and LOS slightly increased. Investigating cost-effectiveness and net health benefits of GLP-1 treatment in selected populations is warranted.