Cost And Utilization Trends Of Percutaneous Kidney Biopsy In Kidney Transplant Patients: A 4-Year Claims Data Analysis

ObjectiveThis study evaluated patterns of utilization and costs of percutaneous kidney biopsies in kidney transplant patients. MethodsThe IBM Treatment Pathways tool was used to interrogate cohorts selected from the IBM MarketScan dataset. Analyses were done for both adult and pediatric patients. Differences in biopsy paid amounts and utilization patterns were assessed for commercial payers, Medicare, and Medicaid. Claims data were collected for the years 2016 to 2019. ResultsA total of 15,337 records for percutaneous kidney biopsy events performed between 2016 and 2019 were identified in the database. Out of these, 840 corresponded to pediatric patients. DiscussionAnalysis showed that the paid amount for the procedure increased by 10% from 2016 to 2019 for commercial payers for adult patients, with US $4,137 being the median paid amount in 2019. Median paid amounts by both Medicare and Medicaid remained essentially flat for the same time at US $2,063 for Medicare and US $865 for Medicaid in 2019. Median cost of the procedure in pediatric patients increased 17% between 2016 and 2019 for commercial payers being US $6,068 in 2019. Medicaid payments for the pediatric patient population showed little change between 2016 and 2019, being US $1,666 in 2019.