Burden to Society: Direct medical costs to the United States health care system related to VTE events and complications approximate at least $600 million annually. Bullano and colleagues21 estimate that managed care plans pay a median of $3,131 per incident DVT, $6,424 per incident PE, and $12,200 for a DVT plus PE combination event. A 2004 registry of 5,451 patients with ultrasound-confirmed DVT at 183 institutions in the United States revealed that DVT led to hospitalization in 80% of those diagnosed as outpatients. Those initially diagnosed with DVT as inpatients remained hospitalized for a median of 12 days.7