OBJECTIVES : The aim of this study is to estimate the direct medical expenses of MM and identify predicting factors among Chinese urban patients.

METHODS : A total of 29270 patients were collected from the claim database in urban China during the period from 2012 to 2016. Patients’ demographic characteristics, healthcare expenses were also collected from the database. Multiple linear regression analyses was used to analyze influencing factors of direct medical expenses.

RESULTS : During the period from 2012 to 2016, the per capita expenditure were RMB 55204.9, 66890.9, 88912.8, 74086.6, and 73767.4, respectively. And the OOP percentage were 49.1%, 59.6%, 43.1%, 45.9%, 46.2%, respectively. The proportion of drug expense were more than 60% except year of 2014. In addition, the average length of stay were 17.6, 16.1, 14.3, 13.5 and 12.9 days from 2012 to 2016. 65% patients were from eastern China and the average expenditure was RMB 97558, 14% from central China with an average expenditure of RMB 45018, and 21% from western China with an average expense of RMB 44163. The major influencing factors on medical expenditures were length of stay (p<0.01), health insurance type (p<0.01), and hospital level (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS : Compared with urban per capita disposable income in China from 2012 to 2016 (24565 RMB, 26955 RMB, 29381 RMB, 31790 RMB, 33616 RMB), the direct medical expenditures for inpatients with MM were high. And the drug expense was the main component of total medical expenses. The geography disparity of medical expenses of MM were associated with different reimbursement policy and the unbalance distribution of medical resource. which implicated that effective measures include reducing the length of hospital stay and controlling spending at tertiary hospitals could lower medical expenditure of MM patients in China.