Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 remains an important aspect of public health. Several new therapies have been introduced since 2020, but no published literature currently exists looking at trends in inpatient hospital utilization of Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) patients with COVID-19 over the five-year span.
METHODS: METHODS:Using the Medicare 100% Research Identifiable Files (RIFs) for 2020 through Q1 2025, inpatient hospital claims were identified with an admitting diagnosis code for COVID-19 (ICD-10-CM U07.1) and evaluated by month. Identified claims were stratified by intensive care unit (ICU) utilization, death during the stay, patient age, and race.
RESULTS: RESULTS:The monthly rate of inpatient claims with the admitting diagnosis of COVID-19 was highly volatile from 2020 through April 2022 (ranging from ~4,800 to ~68,900 claims per month), followed by a significant and stable decrease in range (from ~3,500 to ~16,200 claims per month). The pattern of stability after April 2022 is consistent across average length of stay (8.9 to 17.5 days prior to April 2022; 5.2 to 7.8 days post), percent of claims with ICU utilization, and percent of mortality during the inpatient stay. Further segmenting shows patients aged 65-75 had the more ICU stays and deaths initially, but after April 2022 have better outcomes compared to the older cohorts. Pre-April 2022, racial minorities comprised up to 40% of COVID-19 claims in a month, but that proportion ranges between 11% to 19% post April 2022.
CONCLUSIONS: CONCLUSIONS:The initial two years of the COVID-19 pandemic showed high volatility of inpatient care for the Medicare FFS population. The relative stabilization in early 2022 may be attributed a combination of reasons: new therapeutics, clinicians/providers experience treating COVID, vaccine uptake, and viral resistance. These results suggest that COVID-19 treatment in the Medicare FFS population has reached a plateau spanning April 2022 through Q1 2025.