THE COST OF HOSPITALIZATIONS DUE TO OSTEOPOROSIS-RELATED FRACTURES CAN BE AS SIGNIFICANT TO HEALTH SYSTEMS AS OTHER CHRONIC CONDITIONS¹

*Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) was used to determine number of hospitalizations. These hospitals included specialty centers, public hospitals, and academic medical centers. Study was conducted between 2000 and 2011 and included facility-related hospital costs (defined as an admission to a short-term acute-care facility). Emergency room–only visits and same-day surgery-center visits are not included.

^†Cost-to-charge ratios provided by the NIS were used to estimate actual inpatient costs. These are commonly used to convert charges from individual hospitalizations to a cost of care. Cost-to-charge ratios were obtained from hospital accounting reports collected by CMS. The Consumer Price Index produced by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics was used to inflate costs to 2011.

^‡Osteoporosis-related fractures included hip, forearm, spine, pelvis, distal femur (including shaft), wrist, and humerus.