O46. A National Study for Regional Variation of Inpatient ECT Utilization From 4,411 Hospitals Across the United States
Section snippets
Background
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has unsurpassed effectiveness in treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders especially mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and catatonia. The objective of this study is to examine regional variation in the utilization of inpatient ECT across the United States (US), and its impact on length of stay and cost.
Methods
Study of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample databases compared patient and hospital characteristics and regional variation of ECT administration across the different regions of the US.
Results
The study included 41,055 inpatients who had ECT from 4411 hospitals. ECT use is significantly higher in the Midwest region. Higher proportion of females (65.2%) than males received ECT across the US. Medicaid beneficiaries had less probability to undergo ECT compared to Medicare (52.2%) or private insurance (32%). ECT was used mainly for mood disorders (84.3%). Marked reduction of inpatient cost ($25,298 to $38,244) and average hospital stay (16-day) occurred when ECT was initiated within the
Conclusions
There is a wide variability of utilization of ECT depending on the region, type of hospital, and type of insurance carrier. ECT is underutilized all over the US. Appropriate utilization of this effective treatment can greatly help patients who are not responding to standard therapeutics and reduce overall healthcare cost and length of stay, and most importantly alleviate suffering.
Supported By
Academic Affairs, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
Keywords
Electroconvulsive Therapy, Utilization, Depression, Bipolar, Schizophrenia