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. 2017 Jan 16:3:2333721416686019.
doi: 10.1177/2333721416686019. eCollection 2017 Jan-Dec.

Associations Between Relative Value Units and Patient-Reported Back Pain and Disability

Laura S Gold  1 , Matthew Bryan  2 , Bryan A Comstock  1 , Brian W Bresnahan  1 , Richard A Deyo  3 , Srdjan S Nedeljkovic  4 , David R Nerenz  5 , Patrick Heagerty  1 , Jeffrey G Jarvik  1
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Associations Between Relative Value Units and Patient-Reported Back Pain and Disability

Laura S Gold et al. Gerontol Geriatr Med. .

Abstract

Objective: To describe associations between health care utilization measures and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Method: Primary data were collected from patients ≥65 years with low back pain visits from 2011 to 2013. Six PROs of pain and functionality were collected 12 and 24 months after the index visits and total and spine-specific relative value units (RVUs) from electronic health records were tabulated over 1 year. We calculated correlation coefficients between RVUs and 12- and 24-month PROs and conducted linear regressions with each 12- and 24-month PRO as the outcome variables and RVUs as predictors of interest. Results: We observed very weak correlations between worse PROs at 12 and 24 months and greater 12-month utilization. In regression analyses, we observed slight associations between greater utilization and worse 12- and 24-month PROs. Discussion: We found that 12-month health care utilization is not strongly associated with PROs at 12 or 24 months.

Keywords: Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire score; electronic health records; low back pain; patient-reported outcomes; relative value units (RVUs).

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Study population with exclusion criteria. Note. BOLD = Back Pain Outcomes Using Longitudinal Data.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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