The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) is proud to present five posters at the AcademyHealth 2019 Annual Research Meeting in Washington, D.C. These posters, which cover HCCI research on a wide variety of topics, focus on health care spending and utilization trends among the commercially insured population. If you are attending the conference, please check out the schedule below to meet our staff and learn more about our research.

Additionally, we're excited to host a panel with special guest speakers as well as a podium session, which are included in the schedule below. For conference attendees and non-attendees alike, we've made all the posters available to download.

Monday, June 3^rd

8:00 AM – 9:15 AM, Waster E. Washington Convention Center – Exhibit Hall E

• Antidepressant Use Among Commercially Insured Adults from 2009 to 2016 – Among the adult ESI population, days supplied of antidepressants increased by 165 days from 2009 to 2016, and was similar across age groups and gender. Five active ingredients accounted for 93 percent of the increase.
• Out-of-Pocket Spending on Insulin by Individuals with Type 1 Diabetes – Between 2012 and 2017, out-of-pocket spending on insulin rose modestly while the point-of-sale price of a unit of insulin nearly doubled. Enrollees in consumer-driven health plans had greater variation in average monthly out-of-pocket spending, which increased over time.
• Prenatal Care Utilization Trends in the Privately Insured Population from 2009-2015 – Among pregnant women in our study population, the age of the mother and presence of ex-ante risk characteristics contributed to slightly higher use of labs and ultrasounds during the prenatal care period. Wide distributions in use by age and risk stratifications warrants further research to better explain this variation.

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Marriott Marquis Washington DC - Independence E

Panel: Beyond Peer Review: New Frontiers of Disseminating Health Services Research – A variety of media outlets are increasingly conducting and amplifying health care research, reaching broader audiences using innovative visualization and storytelling approaches. Panelists will discuss how their reporting of health care data and research has evolved beyond the traditional peer-review model – and the trade-offs they face.

1:15 PM – 2:45 PM, Waster E. Washington Convention Center – Exhibit Hall E

• 10 Years of Emergency Room Spending for the Commercially Insured – From 2008 to 2017, spending per person more than doubled for emergency room (facility and physician) costs. Over the same time period, overall emergency room use did not change, but the mix of CPT codes billed did, shifting more to codes that indicate a high severity case and away from codes that indicate a low severity case.
• Primary Care Spending in the Commercially Insured Population – From 2013 to 2017, the proportion of total health care spending attributed to primary care providers declined for all age groups. Additionally, spending on primary care services declined. Over the same period, utilization of these providers and services increased slightly.

Tuesday, June 4^th

8:00 AM – 8:20 AM – Walter E. Washington Convention Center - Room 146 C

Podium Presentation: Measuring Variation in Health Care Prices and Service Use across U.S. Health Care Markets – We leveraged data on the allowed amounts from 1.8 billion commercial health care claims to benchmark per-person spending, per-person use, and average price levels across 112 metro areas throughout the country. HCCI Senior Researcher Bill Johnson will discuss the wide variation in spending attributable to both variation in service price and use levels.