Cost of care for subjective tinnitus in relation to patient satisfaction

Abstract

Objective: A consistent management algorithm for subjective tinnitus remains to be elucidated. Chronic tinnitus yields approximately US$2110 in annual health care costs per patient. However, it is unclear whether spending more in the management of tinnitus equates with greater patient satisfaction. Thus, the aim of this study is to correlate patient satisfaction with patient demographics, provider recommendations, and total health care-related expenditures.

Study design: A retrospective chart review and a patient satisfaction questionnaire.

Setting: All data were collected from a large Midwestern hospital.

Subjects and methods: Patients were included who presented to the tinnitus clinic during the year 2011 and were between the ages of 18 and 89 years. They were excluded with diagnoses of Ménière's disease, pulsatile tinnitus, acoustic neuromas, or autoimmune inner ear diseases. The retrospective data and satisfaction surveys were entered by 3 of the authors. Responses were based on Likert scales.

Results: Of the 692 patients included, 230 completed and returned the satisfaction questionnaire (33.2% response rate), yielding an overall mean of $662.60 charges. The frequency of intervention recommendations per patients ranged from 0 to 13, with a median of 4. Spearman's correlations did not result in significant correlations between patient satisfaction and number of clinic visits (P=.499) or associated charges (P=.453).

Conclusion: Given that the variability among provider recommendations, the high overall mean of tinnitus-related charges, and patient satisfaction was not related to costs, further research is needed examining patient preference in the treatment of tinnitus.

Keywords: ear; expenditures; health care cost; nose; otolaryngology; patient satisfaction; throat; tinnitus.