BACKGROUND: Sarcoidosis is a multisystem inflammatory disorder characterized by the presence of noncaseating granulomas in involved organs. Prior research has found that sarcoidosis imposes a significant economic burden to U.S. payers. However, the drivers of high health care costs among sarcoidosis patients are unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize sarcoidosis patients who were among the top 20% of total health care costs.

METHODS: Patients with a first diagnosis of sarcoidosis between January 1, 1998, and March 31, 2015 (index date) were selected from a deidentified privately insured administrative claims database. Study patients must have at least 12 months of continuous health plan enrollment prior to the index date. High-cost patients were those in the top 20% of total health care costs during the 12 months following the index date (follow-up period), and the remaining patients were classified as lower-cost patients. Patient characteristics, comorbidities, health care resource use, and health care costs in the study period were compared between the high-cost and lower-cost patients. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between patient characteristics and being a high-cost sarcoidosis patient.

RESULTS: A total of 7,173 sarcoidosis patients met the selection criteria. The 20% of patients classified as high-cost patients accounted for approximately 72% of the total health care costs in the 12-month follow-up period. Compared with lower-cost patients, high-cost patients were slightly older (50.6 vs. 49.1 years) and had a higher comorbidity burden at baseline (Charlson Comorbidity Index = 1.8 vs. 0.7). Mean annual total health care cost for high-cost sarcoidosis patients was 10 times that of their lower-cost counterparts ($73,345 vs. $7,073). Mean annual health care cost was $119,878 for patients in the 95th-99th percentile and $375,436 for patients in the top 1% of spend. High-cost patients had greater medical resource use and costs across all places of service (i.e., inpatient, emergency department, outpatient, and other) compared with lower-cost patients. Findings showed that higher total health care cost resulted in a larger proportion of inpatient spend and a smaller proportion of outpatient and pharmacy spend. Adjusting for baseline characteristics, high-cost patients were associated with a number of factors with high ORs: the presence of comorbidities such as deficiency anemia (OR = 1.606; P < 0.001), depression (OR = 1.504; P < 0.001), or cardiac arrhythmia (OR = 1.493; P < 0.001); having an inpatient admission (OR = 9.771; P < 0.001); and use of biologic therapies adalimumab and/or infliximab (OR = 31.821; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: This study described the characteristics of high-cost sarcoidosis patients and identified several high-cost indicators using contemporary administrative data. The health care cost distribution for sarcoidosis patients is highly skewed, making it a worthwhile endeavor to focus improvement efforts on patients in the top quintile. The study findings can help population health decision makers identify a subset of patients for targeted interventions aimed at improving quality of care and reducing overall costs.

DISCLOSURES: This study was funded by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Rice, White, and Lopez are employees of Analysis Group, which received funding from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals to conduct this research. Nelson is an employee of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.

Study concept and design were contributed by Rice, White, and Nelson, along with Lopez. Lopez took the lead in data collection, with assistance from Rice and White. Data interpretation was performed by all …