Summary of FAIR Health White Paper: Chronic Conditions in the United States (2024)
Here’s a summary of the key findings from the FAIR Health white paper on chronic conditions in the commercially insured population of the United States in 2024:
* Prevalence: 57.5% of commercially insured patients had at least one chronic condition.
* Cost Impact: healthcare costs considerably increase with the number of chronic conditions. Patients with one chronic condition had nearly double the average allowed amount ($3,039) compared to those with no chronic conditions ($1,590). Costs escalate dramatically with more conditions, reaching $21,730 for those with 10 or more – 13.7 times higher than those with no chronic conditions.
* Most Common condition: Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol) was the most prevalent, affecting 21.2% of patients.
* Co-occurring Conditions: Many patients have multiple chronic conditions. 11.5% had two, and 9.1% had three. Hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and obesity frequently occur together (33.4% had at least one of these, and 4.3% had all three). Half of patients with one of these conditions had more than one.
* Condition-specific Costs: Lung cancer had the highest average allowed amount ($22,740), while ADHD had the lowest ($4,175). Acute myocardial infarction, non-Alzheimer’s dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease had the highest median number of co-occurring conditions (six), while pneumonia and autism had the lowest (one).
* Correlations: There’s a positive correlation between the prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and diabetes. hypertension and diabetes showed the strongest correlation (86.0%).
* Poverty Rate Link: Certain clusters of chronic conditions (like hypertension, diabetes, obesity, chronic kidney disease, and hyperlipidemia) are positively correlated with county-level poverty rates. Conversely,cancers showed negative correlations with poverty rates (breast cancer at -24.3%).
This study utilizes data from FAIR Health’s extensive repository of commercial healthcare claims and previews the capabilities of the upcoming FAIR Health Atlas, a platform for measuring chronic condition prevalence and costs. The findings are relevant to a wide range of healthcare stakeholders.
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