• Sylvia Pellekooren, Ângela J Ben, Johanna M van Dongen, Annelies L Pool-Goudzwaard, Maurits W van Tulder, Jesse M van den Berg, and OsteloRaymond W J GRWJG0000-0001-7679-7210Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences Research Institute Amsterdam, the Netherlands.Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Amsterdam UM.
• Department Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, Amsterdam Movement Sciences Research Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• Pain. 2024 Feb 1; 165 (2): 404411404-411.

AbstractInformation on healthcare utilization and costs of general practitioner (GP)-guided care in patients with musculoskeletal complaints is important for keeping healthcare affordable and accessible. A registry-based study was performed to describe healthcare utilization and costs of GP-guided care in patients with musculoskeletal complaints and to predict having higher direct healthcare costs. Healthcare costs of GP-guided care included all healthcare resources used by patients due to a musculoskeletal condition in 2018. Data were extracted from the database with a 1-year follow-up and descriptively analyzed. A general linear model was developed to predict having higher direct healthcare costs. In total, 403,719 patients were included, of whom 92% only received a single consultation. The number of referrals varied across the different types of complaints. Total annual direct healthcare costs amounted to €39,180,531, of which a key cost driver was referrals. Primary care consultations accounted for the largest part of referral-related costs. For all musculoskeletal conditions combined, the mean annual direct healthcare cost per patient was €97 (SEM = €0.18). Older age, being a woman, low socioeconomic status, spine complaints, high number of musculoskeletal diagnoses, and a high comorbidity score were predictive of having higher direct healthcare costs and explained 0.7% of the variance. This study showed that mean annual direct healthcare costs of GP-guided care in patients with musculoskeletal conditions were relatively low and did not differ considerably across conditions. The predictive model explained a negligible part of the variance in costs. Thus, it is unclear which factors do predict high direct healthcare costs in this population.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

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