Long-Term Healthcare Utilization After COVID-19: Varied Patterns Based on Initial Infection Severity

Highlight

– COVID-19 infection leads to sustained increases in healthcare utilization up to 12 months post-infection, with marked differences based on initial disease severity.
– Hospitalized COVID-19 patients experienced elevated hospital readmissions for five months, significant increases in outpatient and ancillary care, and decreased emergency department visits after six months.
– Non-hospitalized patients exhibited modest increases in hospital admissions and outpatient care, small rises in home health use and prescriptions, with stable emergency department use and slight declines in physical therapy.
– These findings underscore the importance of tailored, long-term care strategies to meet diverse healthcare needs of COVID-19 survivors.

Study Background