FEBRUARY 28, 2019

Almost $3 Million Spent on Unnecessary Health Care Due to Delays in Valley Fever Diagnosis

By Marie Rosenthal, MS

Delays in the diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis lead to unnecessary testing, medication and other health care services that cost almost $3 million in Arizona between 2011 and 2014, according to two studies presented at the 2018 annual meeting of the Coccidioidomycosis Study Group in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Valley fever is a fungal disease that is endemic in the Southwest, but most cases occur in Arizona, where Coccidioides spores cause one-third of all types of pneumonia in the