COVID-19’s Hidden Legacy: The Cardiovascular Crisis Behind Rising PMPM Costs

Have you noticed your Circulatory Health Condition Category per member per month (PMPM) cost trend rising more each year? This may be due not only to the COVID-19-related lag in preventive care but also to the virus’s direct impact on vascular health. Many analyses overlook events occurring outside hospital settings, potentially missing critical data. Without continuously integrating the latest clinical evidence into your analytics algorithms and drill-downs, you’re likely missing important correlations, causations, and actionable insights. Recent findings show that cardiac deaths have surged since the pandemic began, with more deaths occurring at home and seasonal spikes becoming sharper, suggesting underreported cardiovascular events (Wasfy et al., 2025). This supports growing evidence that COVID-19 causes significant vascular inflammation and long-term cardiovascular damage, increasing the incidence of heart attacks and strokes even beyond the initial pandemic wave. A PROACTIVE CARE strategy—including vaccination, preventive education, and early treatment—can improve outcomes, save lives, and reduce costs in one of the top five health condition categories.

Wasfy, J. H., Lin, Y., Price, M., Newhouse, J. P., Blacker, D., & Hsu, J. (2025). Postpandemic cardiac mortality rates. JAMA Network Open, 8(5), e2512919. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.12919