News: New sepsis cost and prevalence data “astonished” researchers

The largest sepsis study ever conducted with Medicare data found a 40% increase in the rate of Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized with the infection between 2012 and 2018, reported HealthLeaders Media.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 270,000 Americans die from sepsis every year, and 1 in 3 patients who die in hospitals are diagnosed with sepsis. And, according to a recent study published in the Lancet, sepsis can be blamed for 20% of deaths worldwide.

The new study was conducted by researchers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The journal of Critical Care Medicine has published the research in three articles:

• "Sepsis Among Medicare Beneficiaries: 1. The Burdens of Sepsis, 2012-2018" 
• "Sepsis Among Medicare Beneficiaries: 2. The Trajectories of Sepsis, 2012-2018"
• "Sepsis Among Medicare Beneficiaries: 3. The Methods, Models, and Forecasts of Sepsis, 2012-2018"

The study found that from 2012 to 2018, the annual number of fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries with an inpatient hospital admission and sepsis diagnosis increased from 811,644 to 1,136,889.

For Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with a sepsis diagnosis, the total annual cost of inpatient admissions and skilled nursing facility care over doubled, increasing from $6 billion to $13.4 billion.

The total annual cost for fee-for-service Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with an inpatient admission for sepsis and skilled nursing facility (SNF) admission increased from $27.7 billion to $41.5 billion.  

The study includes a conservative forecast for sepsis care costs in 2019 for all Medicare beneficiaries and private payer patients. Last year, the cost of sepsis care for inpatient admissions and SNF admissions for these patients was estimated at more than $62 billion. The six-month mortality rate among fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries with an inpatient hospital admission was about 60% for septic shock and 36% for severe sepsis.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in HealthLeaders Media. Click here to read the Department of Health & Human Services’ press release.