FAIR Health State-by-State Analytics Make News
May 17, 2018
FAIR Health’s capability to make state-by-state comparisons through claims data analysis has been generating public interest in topics as disparate as food allergies and the royal birth. By studying data in our repository of over 25 billion private healthcare claim records, FAIR Health can provide customized analytics on many aspects of healthcare on a state-by-state basis in all 50 states and Washington, DC.
Food Allergies
For Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), an organization that works on behalf of Americans with food allergies, FAIR Health recently created 51 infographics—one for each state and Washington, DC—that opened a window on food allergy in each state during the period 2009-2016. For each state, we showed graphically:
- The top five foods that cause anaphylactic reactions;
- The percentage of claim lines with an anaphylaxis diagnosis compared to the percentage with a history of food allergy diagnosis (for different food allergy groups); and
- The percentage of food allergy claim lines by age group.
In addition, we created two national heat maps, one for 2009 and one for 2016, that showed how states compared to each other in their frequency of claim lines with anaphylaxis and history of food allergy diagnoses. We also provided a table of states with their percent change in the frequency of those diagnoses from 2009 to 2016.
Our collaboration with FARE is timely because this week, May 13 to 19, is Food Allergy Awareness Week. In their press release on their campaign for the occasion, FARE cited FAIR Health data from our food allergy white paper regarding the nearly 400 percent rise in claim lines with diagnoses of anaphylactic food reactions from 2007 to 2016.
The Cost of Giving Birth
For an article that appeared last fall in Money magazine, Find Out How Much It Costs to Give Birth in Every State, FAIR Health provided a state-by-state analysis of the cost of giving birth. For each state, based on 2016-2017 data, we supplied the average imputed allowed amount—an estimate of the amount that insurers agree to pay providers—for the total episode of childbirth-related care. For vaginal delivery, the prices ranged from a low of $5,017 for Alabama to a high of $10,413 for Alaska. For C-sections, the prices varied from a low of $7,439 for Washington, DC to a high of $14,528 for Alaska. The analysis sparked international interest, and the website Fatherly published more FAIR Health data on the national average billed charges for vaginal deliveries and C-sections.
FAIR Health’s childbirth data became newly relevant on April 23, when Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to her third child, Prince Louis. In a new article that day, Here’s How Much the Royal Baby’s Birth Cost, Compared to the Average American’s, Money compared the estimated cost of the royal birth with those of Americans—citing the FAIR Health data they had previously published. The comparison, including FAIR Health data, was reported in many other media outlets, from Town & Country to the International Business Times.
The Opioid Crisis
In a forthcoming white paper—the fourth in our series on the opioid crisis—we will study medical services and costs related to opioid abuse and dependence nationally and regionally. In connection with that white paper, we will create 51 infographics, one for each state and Washington, DC, offering state-by-state analyses on the opioid crisis.
For information on how we can produce state-by-state analytics and other kinds of FH® Custom Analytics for your organization, contact us by email at info@fairhealth.org or call us at 855-301-3247, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 6 pm ET.