OBJECTIVES: To examine trends in hospital length of stay and total costs in patients with AML.

METHODS: The latest available 2015 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data set of hospital admissions from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project was utilized in order to determine the number of hospital admissions for patients with AML (identified by ICD-9 for Q1-Q3 and ICD-10 codes for Q4). The LOS and costs were compared by payer type, race, gender and age groups.

RESULTS: Based on our inclusion criteria we found 12,634 admissions, representing 0.146% of all hospitalizations. The mean age was 57.3 years (SD: 20.19, median 62 years). The mean LOS was 13.04 days (SD: 15.76 days, Median: 6 days). While majority of the hospitalizations were in patients age >60 years (55%), the LOS was longest for children, followed by adults age 45-59. Mean (SD) LOS by age: 0-18: 20.22 days (20.31, n=532), 18-45: 13.49 days (18.58, n=1618), 45-59: 15.15 days (16.62, n=2110) and 60+: 11.32 days (13.43, n=5216).

Interestingly, the mean LOS was shortest for Medicare 10.54 days (12.54), while it was similar for Medicaid and Private payers: 15.37 days (17.74) and 15.06 days (18.01), respectively. The overall mean cost was $141,407 (SD: $225,215). Mean (SD) charges by age: 0-18: $238,092 (SD: $391,443), 18-45: $155,482 (SD: $251,028), 45-59: $170,983 (SD: $247,822) and 60+: $115,216 (SD: $173,559). Similar to LOS, the total charges were lowest for Medicare $107,913 (SD: $165,576), while charges were similar for Medicaid and Private payers: $174,545 (SD: $284,624) and $166,731 (SD: $253,656), respectively. LOS and charges did not significantly vary by gender or race.

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with AML incur high costs for public and private payers, mainly due to long length of stay. New treatments with shorter LOS could potentially lower the economic burden by offsetting high cost of hospitalization.