Estimating the Cost of Injuries among U.S. Army Soldiers
Abstract
This study established and applied a methodology to calculate the economic burden of mechanical energy injuries among Active Duty (AD) Army Soldiers. Building upon lessons learned from initial estimates of costs for Soldiers lower extremity fractures, this new, expanded methodology provided more refined cost estimates through inclusion of appointment time for all outpatient visits, and by improving and expanding the limited duty day (LDD) estimates to apply to all injury types. LDDs were derived from a review of previously published Soldier survey responses of injury-related limited duty time. The methodology was applied to mechanical energy injuries that occurred among Army Soldiers in 2018. Data were obtained from the Military Data Repository (MDR) using the Military Health System Mart (M2) interface. Results indicated that the 791,165 incident injuries experienced by Army Soldiers in 2018 resulted in $4.7B in direct medical and indirect costs. Overall, $571M (12.1 ) of total costs were due to direct medical costs of care paid by the Military Health System (MHS); and $67M (1.4 ) of total costs were due to indirect costs of lost duty time associated with hospital bed days and with hospital bed days and outpatient appointment time. The majority of the total costs associated with mechanical energy injuries was due to the $4.1B indirect cost of limited duty days (86.6 of total cost). This finding further validates the need to include indirect cost estimates as a part of overall injury costs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1166831
Entities
People
- Anna Schuh-renner
- Ashleigh Mccabe
- Bruce H. Jones
- Esther O. Dada
- Lanna J. Forrest
- Michelle Canham-chervak
- Ryan A. Steelman
- Stephen R. Barnes
- Tyson L. Grier
- Veronique D. Hauschild
Organizations
- United States Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine