Is High-Flux Dialysis Cost-Effective?

Author(s):  
John C. Hornberger ◽  
Alan M. Garber ◽  
Michael E. Chernew

AbstractHigh-flux dialysis is a new method for providing routine-maintenance hemodialysis to patients with endstage renal disease. It promises to shorten the duration of the dialysis session, but poses potential clinical risks to patients and financial risks to dialysis centers because of the high unit cost of purchasing new dialysis equipment. We retrospectively evaluated the cost-effectiveness of high-flux dialysis compared to conventional dialysis in a hospital-based center. The center provided only conventional dialysis until March 1989, when it initiated high-flux dialysis. The estimated annual costs of treatment were US $31,249 (high-flux) and $32,562 (conventional). The rate of hospital admissions was almost identical in both groups (conventional, 1.29 admissions per year; high-flux, 1.24 admissions per year; p = 0.23). Predicted prolongation of life expectancy with high-flux dialysis was significantly higher after statistical adjustment for observable patient characteristics (1.8 to 4.5 years; p <0.01). The cost-effectiveness ratio was $28,188 per life-year saved for high-flux compared to conventional dialysis. These findings suggest that the added capital expense of purchasing high-flux equipment can be justified from the perspective of its societal cost-effectiveness.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246207
Author(s):  
Lelisa Fekadu Assebe ◽  
Wondesen Nigatu Belete ◽  
Senait Alemayehu ◽  
Elias Asfaw ◽  
Kora Tushune Godana ◽  
...  

Background Ethiopia launched the Health Extension Program (HEP) in 2004, aimed at ensuring equitable community-level healthcare services through Health Extension Workers. Despite the program’s being a flagship initiative, there is limited evidence on whether investment in the program represents good value for money. This study assessed the cost and cost-effectiveness of HEP interventions to inform policy decisions for resource allocation and priority setting in Ethiopia. Methods Twenty-one health care interventions were selected under the hygiene and sanitation, family health services, and disease prevention and control sub-domains. The ingredient bottom-up and top-down costing method was employed. Cost and cost-effectiveness were assessed from the provider perspective. Health outcomes were measured using life years gained (LYG). Incremental cost per LYG in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of Ethiopia (US$852.80) was used to ascertain the cost-effectiveness. All costs were collected in Ethiopian birr and converted to United States dollars (US$) using the average exchange rate for 2018 (US$1 = 27.67 birr). Both costs and health outcomes were discounted by 3%. Result The average unit cost of providing selected hygiene and sanitation, family health, and disease prevention and control services with the HEP was US$0.70, US$4.90, and US$7.40, respectively. The major cost driver was drugs and supplies, accounting for 53% and 68%, respectively, of the total cost. The average annual cost of delivering all the selected interventions was US$9,897. All interventions fall within 1 times GDP per capita per LYG, indicating that they are very cost-effective (ranges: US$22–$295 per LYG). Overall, the HEP is cost-effective by investing US$77.40 for every LYG. Conclusion The unit cost estimates of HEP interventions are crucial for priority-setting, resource mobilization, and program planning. This study found that the program is very cost-effective in delivering community health services.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guojun Sun ◽  
Jingwen Wang ◽  
Xiaoying Zhou ◽  
Zhichao Hu ◽  
Zuojun Dong

Abstract Background: Treatment with trametinib plus dabrafenib for patients exhibiting metastatic BRAF V600-mutated melanoma has been approved in China.Method: We developed a Markov model to evaluate and compare the cost-effectiveness of trametinib plus dabrafenib against vemurafenib. Information on clinical situations, the rate of adverse reactions, follow-up treatments, and estimated transition probabilities were derived from the results of a clinical trial that compared treatment with trametinib plus dabrafenib against vemurafenib alone. A one-way sensitivity analysis and a probabilistic sensitivity analysis were conducted to assess the influence of uncertainty on the key model.Result: Treatment with trametinib plus dabrafenib for one patient in the treatment period was estimated to cost CNY 332 294, and yield a total gain of 16.6 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Compared with vemurafenib, treatment involving trametinib plus dabrafenib yielded additional 3.96 QALYs, resulting in a unit cost-effectiveness of CNY 27 460 per QALY. Sensitivity analysis shows that the results are reliable.Conclusion:From the perspective of China's health system, applying China's per-capita GDP in 2020 as the threshold of willingness-to-pay, it is cost-effective to treat metastatic melanoma patients exhibiting BRAF V600 mutation with dabrafenib plus trametinib.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (81) ◽  
pp. 1-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Dretzke ◽  
Deirdre Blissett ◽  
Chirag Dave ◽  
Rahul Mukherjee ◽  
Malcolm Price ◽  
...  

BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic progressive lung disease characterised by non-reversible airflow obstruction. Exacerbations are a key cause of morbidity and mortality and place a considerable burden on health-care systems. While there is evidence that patients benefit from non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in hospital during an acute exacerbation, evidence supporting home use for more stable COPD patients is limited. In the UK, domiciliary NIV is considered on health economic grounds in patients after three hospital admissions for acute hypercapnic respiratory failure.ObjectiveTo assess the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of domiciliary NIV by systematic review and economic evaluation.Data sourcesBibliographic databases, conference proceedings and ongoing trial registries up to September 2014.MethodsStandard systematic review methods were used for identifying relevant clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies assessing NIV compared with usual care or comparing different types of NIV. Risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane guidelines and relevant economic checklists. Results for primary effectiveness outcomes (mortality, hospitalisations, exacerbations and quality of life) were presented, where possible, in forest plots. A speculative Markov decision model was developed to compare the cost-effectiveness of domiciliary NIV with usual care from a UK perspective for post-hospital and more stable populations separately.ResultsThirty-one controlled effectiveness studies were identified, which report a variety of outcomes. For stable patients, a modest volume of evidence found no benefit from domiciliary NIV for survival and some non-significant beneficial trends for hospitalisations and quality of life. For post-hospital patients, no benefit from NIV could be shown in terms of survival (from randomised controlled trials) and findings for hospital admissions were inconsistent and based on limited evidence. No conclusions could be drawn regarding potential benefit from different types of NIV. No cost-effectiveness studies of domiciliary NIV were identified. Economic modelling suggested that NIV may be cost-effective in a stable population at a threshold of £30,000 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio £28,162), but this is associated with uncertainty. In the case of the post-hospital population, results for three separate base cases ranged from usual care dominating to NIV being cost-effective, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of less than £10,000 per QALY gained. All estimates were sensitive to effectiveness estimates, length of benefit from NIV (currently unknown) and some costs. Modelling suggested that reductions in the rate of hospital admissions per patient per year of 24% and 15% in the stable and post-hospital populations, respectively, are required for NIV to be cost-effective.LimitationsEvidence on key clinical outcomes remains limited, particularly quality-of-life and long-term (> 2 years) effects. Economic modelling should be viewed as speculative because of uncertainty around effect estimates, baseline risks, length of benefit of NIV and limited quality-of-life/utility data.ConclusionsThe cost-effectiveness of domiciliary NIV remains uncertain and the findings in this report are sensitive to emergent data. Further evidence is required to identify patients most likely to benefit from domiciliary NIV and to establish optimum time points for starting NIV and equipment settings.Future work recommendationsThe results from this report will need to be re-examined in the light of any new trial results, particularly in terms of reducing the uncertainty in the economic model. Any new randomised controlled trials should consider including a sham non-invasive ventilation arm and/or a higher- and lower-pressure arm. Individual participant data analyses may help to determine whether or not there are any patient characteristics or equipment settings that are predictive of a benefit of NIV and to establish optimum time points for starting (and potentially discounting) NIV.Study registrationThis study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42012003286.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdene Kaso ◽  
Alemayehu Hailu

Abstract Background Early diagnosis is one of the pillars of the TB (TB) control, and there are strong efforts to detect and treat cases in Ethiopia. Smear microscopy testing has been a routine test for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB in resource-constrained settings for a long time. Recently, many countries, including Ethiopia, are scaling up the use of GeneXpert without a precise evaluation of the cost and cost-effectiveness of this technology. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of GeneXpert compared to smear microscopy tests for the diagnosis of TB patients in Ethiopia. Methods We develop a decision tree model using TreeAge Pro 2020 software. The model accounts for the prevalence and incidence of TB in the study area. The costs were estimated from the health providers' perspective in one year (in 2017/18). We applied an ingredients-based costing approach to identify, measure, and evaluate the smear microscopy cost and GeneXpert. We employed the 'proportion of cases detected' as an outcome measure of effectiveness. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated by dividing the changes in cost and change effectiveness. One way and probabilistic sensitivity analysis were done by varying different input parameters. All costs and ICER are reported in 2018 US$. Results The unit cost per test for GeneXpert and smear microscopy testing was US$12.9 and $3.1, respectively. The average cost of testing using GeneXpert was $113.0 and $3.3 for smear microscopy. The cost of the cartridge ($10.7) was the primary (83%) parameter influencing the overall cost of GeneXpert, while it was the cost of reagent and consumables $1.28 (41%) for the smear microscopy. The ICER for GeneXpert strategy was $729.8 per new TB cases detected compared to smear microscopy. The sensitivity analysis indicates that TB prevalence was the most influential parameter on the ICER. Conclusion The present study indicates that testing all individuals with suspected TB using GeneXpert is a very cost-effective strategy compared to smear microscopy, and therefore, it can be part of the routine diagnostic testing strategy in Ethiopia.


Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 707
Author(s):  
Afifah Machlaurin ◽  
Franklin Christiaan Karel Dolk ◽  
Didik Setiawan ◽  
Tjipke Sytse van der Werf ◽  
Maarten J. Postma

Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG), the only available vaccine for tuberculosis (TB), has been applied for decades. The Indonesian government recently introduced a national TB disease control programme that includes several action plans, notably enhanced vaccination coverage, which can be strengthened through underpinning its favourable cost-effectiveness. We designed a Markov model to assess the cost-effectiveness of Indonesia’s current BCG vaccination programme. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were evaluated from the perspectives of both society and healthcare. The robustness of the analysis was confirmed through univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA). Using epidemiological data compiled for Indonesia, BCG vaccination at a price US$14 was estimated to be a cost-effective strategy in controlling TB disease. From societal and healthcare perspectives, ICERs were US$104 and US$112 per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), respectively. The results were robust for variations of most variables in the univariate analysis. Notably, the vaccine’s effectiveness regarding disease protection, vaccination costs, and case detection rates were key drivers for cost-effectiveness. The PSA results indicated that vaccination was cost-effective even at US$175 threshold in 95% of cases, approximating the monthly GDP per capita. Our findings suggest that this strategy was highly cost-effective and merits prioritization and extension within the national TB programme. Our results may be relevant for other high endemic low- and middle-income countries.


1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 332-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A Crocket ◽  
Eric YL Wong ◽  
Dale C Lien ◽  
Khanh Gia Nguyen ◽  
Michelle R Chaput ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the yield and cost effectiveness of transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) in the assessment of mediastinal and/or hilar lymphadenopathy.DESIGN: Retrospective study.SETTING: A university hospital.POPULATION STUDIED: Ninety-six patients referred for bronchoscopy with computed tomographic evidence of significant mediastinal or hilar adenopathy.RESULTS: Ninety-nine patient records were reviewed. Three patients had two separate bronchoscopy procedures. TBNA was positive in 42 patients (44%) and negative in 54 patients. Of the 42 patients with a positive aspirate, 40 had malignant cytology and two had cells consistent with benign disease. The positive TBNA result altered management in 22 of 40 patients with malignant disease and one of two patients with benign disease, thereby avoiding further diagnostic procedures. The cost of these subsequent procedures was estimated at $27,335. No complications related to TBNA were documented.CONCLUSIONS: TBNA is a high-yield, safe and cost effective procedure for the diagnosis and staging of bronchogenic cancer.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 323-331
Author(s):  
Mohsen pakdaman ◽  
Raheleh akbari ◽  
Hamid reza Dehghan ◽  
Asra Asgharzadeh ◽  
Mahdieh Namayandeh

PurposeFor years, traditional techniques have been used for diabetes treatment. There are two major types of insulin: insulin analogs and regular insulin. Insulin analogs are similar to regular insulin and lead to changes in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The purpose of the present research was to determine the cost-effectiveness of insulin analogs versus regular insulin for diabetes control in Yazd Diabetes Center in 2017.Design/methodology/approachIn this descriptive–analytical research, the cost-effectiveness index was used to compare insulin analogs and regular insulin (pen/vial) for treatment of diabetes. Data were analyzed in the TreeAge Software and a decision tree was constructed. A 10% discount rate was used for ICER sensitivity analysis. Cost-effectiveness was examined from a provider's perspective.FindingsQALY was calculated to be 0.2 for diabetic patients using insulin analogs and 0.05 for those using regular insulin. The average cost was $3.228 for analog users and $1.826 for regular insulin users. An ICER of $0.093506/QALY was obtained. The present findings suggest that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than regular insulin.Originality/valueThis study was conducted using a cost-effectiveness analysis to evaluate insulin analogs versus regular insulin in controlling diabetes. The results of study are helpful to the government to allocate more resources to apply the cost-effective method of the treatment and to protect patients with diabetes from the high cost of treatment.


1996 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afaf Girgis ◽  
Philip Clarke ◽  
Robert C Burton ◽  
Rob W Sanson—Fisher

Background and design— Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, and the incidence is estimated to be doubling every 10 years. Despite advances in the early detection and treatment of melanoma about 800 people still die nationally of the disease each year. A possible strategy for further reducing the mortality from melanoma is an organised programme of population screening for unsuspected lesions in asymptomatic people. Arguments against introducing melanoma screening have been based on cost and the lack of reliable data on the efficacy of any screening tests. To date, however, there has been no systematic economic assessment of the cost effectiveness of melanoma screening. The purpose of this research was to determine whether screening may be potentially cost effective and, therefore, warrants further investigation. A computer was used to simulate the effects of a hypothetical melanoma screening programme that was in operation for 20 years, using cohorts of Australians aged 50 at the start of the programme. Based on this simulation, cost—effectiveness estimates of melanoma screening were calculated. Results— Under the standard assumptions used in the model, and setting the sensitivity of the screening test (visual inspection of the skin) at 60%, cost effectiveness ranged from Aust$6853 per life year saved for men if screening was undertaken five yearly to $12137 if screening was two yearly. For women, it ranged from $11 102 for five yearly screening to $20 877 for two yearly screening. Conclusion— The analysis suggests that a melanoma screening programme could be cost effective, particularly if five yearly screening is implemented by family practitioners for men over the age of 50.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1357633X2098277
Author(s):  
Molly Jacobs ◽  
Patrick M Briley ◽  
Heather Harris Wright ◽  
Charles Ellis

Introduction Few studies have reported information related to the cost-effectiveness of traditional face-to-face treatments for aphasia. The emergence and demand for telepractice approaches to aphasia treatment has resulted in an urgent need to understand the costs and cost-benefits of this approach. Methods Eighteen stroke survivors with aphasia completed community-based aphasia telerehabilitation treatment, utilizing the Language-Oriented Treatment (LOT) delivered via Webex videoconferencing program. Marginal benefits to treatment were calculated as the change in Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R) score pre- and post-treatment and marginal cost of treatment was calculated as the relationship between change in WAB-R aphasia quotient (AQ) and the average cost per treatment. Controlling for demographic variables, Bayesian estimation evaluated the primary contributors to WAB-R change and assessed cost-effectiveness of treatment by aphasia type. Results Thirteen out of 18 participants experienced significant improvement in WAB-R AQ following telerehabilitation delivered therapy. Compared to anomic aphasia (reference group), those with conduction aphasia had relatively similar levels of improvement whereas those with Broca’s aphasia had smaller improvement. Those with global aphasia had the largest improvement. Each one-point of improvement cost between US$89 and US$864 for those who improved (mean = US$200) depending on aphasia type/severity. Discussion Individuals with severe aphasia may have the greatest gains per unit cost from treatment. Both improvement magnitude and the cost per unit of improvement were driven by aphasia type, severity and race. Economies of scale to aphasia treatment–cost may be minimized by treating a variety of types of aphasia at various levels of severity.


2021 ◽  
pp. 019459982110268
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Acevedo ◽  
Ashley C. Hsu ◽  
Jeffrey C. Yu ◽  
Dale H. Rice ◽  
Daniel I. Kwon ◽  
...  

Objective To compare the cost-effectiveness of sialendoscopy with gland excision for the management of submandibular gland sialolithiasis. Study Design Cost-effectiveness analysis. Setting Outpatient surgery centers. Methods A Markov decision model compared the cost-effectiveness of sialendoscopy versus gland excision for managing submandibular gland sialolithiasis. Surgical outcome probabilities were found in the primary literature. The quality of life of patients was represented by health utilities, and costs were estimated from a third-party payer’s perspective. The effectiveness of each intervention was measured in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). The incremental costs and effectiveness of each intervention were compared, and a willingness-to-pay ratio of $150,000 per QALY was considered cost-effective. One-way, multivariate, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to challenge model conclusions. Results Over 10 years, sialendoscopy yielded 9.00 QALYs at an average cost of $8306, while gland excision produced 8.94 QALYs at an average cost of $6103. The ICER for sialendoscopy was $36,717 per QALY gained, making sialendoscopy cost-effective by our best estimates. The model was sensitive to the probability of success and the cost of sialendoscopy. Sialendoscopy must meet a probability-of-success threshold of 0.61 (61%) and cost ≤$11,996 to remain cost-effective. A Monte Carlo simulation revealed sialendoscopy to be cost-effective 60% of the time. Conclusion Sialendoscopy appears to be a cost-effective management strategy for sialolithiasis of the submandibular gland when certain thresholds are maintained. Further studies elucidating the clinical factors that determine successful sialendoscopy may be aided by these thresholds as well as future comparisons of novel technology.


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