Assessment and determinants of health care utilization among patients with musculoskeletal conditions undergoing outpatient rehabilitation in Germany

The overall objective of this doctoral thesis is to address some of
the conditions necessary to routinely perform alongside economic
evaluations of rehabilitation programs. The specific aims are to 1)
present a standardized instrument to collect data about health care
resource use, 2) identify major cost categories of direct medical
costs to be used in comparative economic evaluations of subjects
with musculoskeletal diseases and 3) identify determinants of
direct medical costs among subjects with musculoskeletal diseases.
This thesis is therefore subdivided into three parts. In the first
part the development of a standardized instrument to collect health
care resource use in the context of rehabilitation is described and
lessons learned are discussed. In the next part major direct
medical costs categories among patients with musculoskeletal
conditions undergoing outpatient rehabilitation are identified.
Lastly, the determinants of the direct medical costs as well as
direct medical costs beyond the median incurred by chronic
musculoskeletal patients are examined. Each of these parts contain
a specific discussion section referring to its specific results.