Assessing Health Care Utilization and Compliance in Kawasaki Disease.

Objective: To characterize health care utilization and costs associated with care after diagnosis of Kawasaki disease including adherence to guidelines for echocardiograms.

Study Design: We analyzed children hospitalized for Kawasaki disease using 2015-2017 national Truven MarketScan commercial claims data. The mean 90-day prehospitalization utilization and costs were quantified and compared with the 90 days posthospitalization via Wilcoxon 2-sample test. Adherence to echocardiogram guidelines was examined using multivariable logistic regression to identify factors associated with adherence.

Results: The mean total payments 90 days prior to hospitalization ($2090; n = 360) were significantly lower than those after discharge ($3778), though out of pocket costs were higher ($400 vs $270) (P < .0001). There was an increase in office visits, medical procedures, and echocardiograms after discharge. A majority of health care utilization before hospitalization occurred in the 7 days immediately prior to the date of admission; 51% obtained an echocardiogram within the first 2 weeks, and 14% were completely adherent with recommendations. Children with greater utilization prior to admission were more likely to adhere to American Heart Association guidelines for follow-up echocardiograms (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.06).

Conclusions: Outpatient health care expenditure nearly doubles after Kawasaki disease hospital discharge when compared with prehospitalization, suggesting the financial ramifications of this diagnosis persist beyond costs incurred during hospitalization. A significant portion of patients do not receive guideline recommended follow-up echocardiograms. This issue should be explored in more detail given the morbidity and mortality associated with this diagnosis.