scholarly journals A113 COST SAVINGS OF SEROLOGIC VERSUS BIOPSY PROVEN DIAGNOSIS OF PEDIATRIC CELIAC DISEASE

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 131-132
Author(s):  
M Wiepjes ◽  
H Q Huynh ◽  
J Wu ◽  
M Chen ◽  
L Shirton ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Celiac disease (CD) affects approximately one percent of the population in Canada and the United States. At present, endoscopic diagnosis (ED) of CD remains the gold standard in North America, despite mounting evidence and validated European guidelines for serologic diagnosis (SD). Within publicly funded healthcare systems there is pressure to ensure optimal resource utilization and cost efficiency, including for endoscopic services. At Stollery Children’s Hospital, Edmonton, Canada, we have adopted serologic diagnosis as routine practice since 2016. Aims The aim of this study is to estimate cost savings, i.e. hard dollar savings and capacity improvements, to the health care system as well as impacts on families in regard to reduced work days lost and missing child school days for SD versus ED. Initial cost saving data is presented. Methods Micro-costing methods were used to determine health care resource use in patients undergoing ED or SD from 2017–2018. SD testing included anti-tissue glutaminase antibody (aTTG) ≥200IU/mL (on two occasions), human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQA5/DQ2, blood sampling, transport and laboratory costs. ED diagnosis included gastroenterologist, anesthetist, OR equipment, staff, overhead and histopathology. Cost of each unit of resource was obtained from the schedule of medical benefits (Alberta) and reported average ambulatory cost for day hospital endoscopy for Stollery Children’s Hospital determined in 2016; reported in CAN$. Results Between March 2017-December 2018, 473 patients were referred for diagnosis of CD; 233 had ED and 127 SD. Estimated cost for ED was $1240 per patient; for SD was $85 per patient (6.8% of ED cost). Based on 127 patients not requiring endoscopy and a cost saving of $1155 per patient there was a total cost savings of $146,685 over 22 months. Conclusions A SD approach presents a significant cost savings to the public health care system. It also frees up valuable endoscopic resources, and limits exposure of children to the immediate and long-term risks associated with anesthesia and biopsy. SD also decreases time to diagnosis and the cost of the process to families (lost days of school/work, travel costs etc.). Our costing data can be used in combination with mounting evidence on the test performance of SD versus ED to determine cost-effectiveness of serological diagnosis for pediatric CD. Given the potential for cost saving and more efficient operating room utilization, SD for pediatric CD warrants further investigation in North America. Funding Agencies None

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Coyle

Many patients survive severe stroke because of aggressive management in intensive care units.  However, acquiring pneumonia during the post-onset phase significantly reduces both the quality and likelihood of survival. Aspiration pneumonia (AP), a relatively recent addition to the list of the pneumonias, is associated with dysphagia, a swallowing disorder that may cause aspiration of swallowed food or liquids mixed with bacterial pathogens common to saliva, or by aspiration of gastric contents due to emesis or gastroesophageal reflux. While it is within the purview of speech-language pathologists to provide evaluation, treatment, and management of dysphagia, the number of patients with dysphagia is growing faster than the number of qualified dysphagia clinicians.  Because dysphagia consultations via telepractice are feasible and relatively accessible from a technological standpoint, they offer a promising strategy to bring the expertise of distant dysphagia experts to patients in underserved areas.  Tele-dysphagia management has the potential to increase patients’ survival, enhance the expertise of primary, local clinicians, and reduce healthcare costs. Even a modest reduction in either hospital admissions for aspiration pneumonia, or in the length of stay for AP, could save the US health care system hundreds of millions of dollars each year.  Wide spread tele-dysphagia management offers significant opportunities for prevention, cost-savings and advanced training, and is therefore worthy of consideration by stakeholders in the health care system and university training programs.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-70
Author(s):  
Marija Bjegovich-Weidman ◽  
Jill Kahabka ◽  
Amy Bock ◽  
Jacob Frick ◽  
Helga Kowalski ◽  
...  

Purpose: Aurora Health Care (AHC) is the largest health care system in Wisconsin, with 14 acute care hospitals. In early 2010, a group of 18 medical oncologists became affiliated with AHC. This affiliation added 13 medical oncology infusion clinics to our existing 12 sites. In the era of health care reform and declining reimbursement, we need an objective method and criteria to evaluate our 25 outpatient medical oncology sites. We developed financial, clinical, and strategic tools for the evaluation and management of our cancer subservice lines and outpatient sites. The key to our success has been the direct involvement of stakeholders with a vested interest in the services in the selection of the criteria and evaluation process. Methods: We developed our objective metrics for evaluation based on strategic, financial, operational, and patient experience criteria. Strategic criteria included: population trends, full-time equivalent (FTE) medical oncologists/primary care physicians, FTE radiation oncologists, FTE oncologic surgeons, new annual cases of patients with cancer, and market share trends. Financial criteria per site included: physician work relative value units, staff FTE by type, staff salaries, and profit and loss. Operational criteria included: facility by type (clinic v hospital based), hours of operation, and facility detail (eg, No. of chairs, No. of procedure and examination rooms, square footage). Patient experience criteria included: nursing model primary/nurse navigators, multidisciplinary support at site, Press Ganey (South Bend, IN; health care performance improvement company) results, and employee engagement score. Results: The outcome of our data analysis has resulted in the development of recommendations for AHC senior leadership and geographic market leadership to consider the consolidation of four sites (phase one, four sites; phase two, two sites) and priority strategic sites to address capacity issues that limit growth. The recommendations if implemented would result in significant cost savings, currently being quantified as a result of consolidation and improved efficiency. A reinvestment of these cost savings would be required to address facility expansion and program enhancement to maximize patient-centered expert care consistently across all of our remaining sites of service.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Hofmann ◽  
Tamrat Befekadu Abebe ◽  
Johan Herlitz ◽  
Stefan K. James ◽  
David Erlinge ◽  
...  

Background: Myocardial infarction (MI) occurs frequently and requires considerable health care resources. It is important to ensure that the treatments which are provided are both clinically effective and economically justifiable. Based on recent new evidence, routine oxygen therapy is no longer recommended in MI patients without hypoxemia. By using data from a nationwide randomized clinical trial, we estimated oxygen therapy related cost savings in this important clinical setting.Methods: The DETermination of the role of Oxygen in suspected Acute Myocardial Infarction (DETO2X-AMI) trial randomized 6,629 patients from 35 hospitals across Sweden to oxygen at 6 L/min for 6–12 h or ambient air. Costs for drug and medical supplies, and labor were calculated per patient, for the whole study population, and for the total annual care episodes for MI in Sweden (N = 16,100) with 10 million inhabitants.Results: Per patient, costs were estimated to 36 USD, summing up to a total cost of 119,832 USD for the whole study population allocated to oxygen treatment. Applied to the annual care episodes for MI in Sweden, costs sum up to between 514,060 and 604,777 USD. In the trial, 62 (2%) patients assigned to oxygen and 254 (8%) patients assigned to ambient air developed hypoxemia. A threshold analysis suggested that up to a cut-off of 624 USD spent for hypoxemia treatment related costs per patient, avoiding routine oxygen therapy remains cost saving.Conclusions: Avoiding routine oxygen therapy in patients with suspected or confirmed MI without hypoxemia at baseline saves significant expenditure for the health care system both with regards to medical and human resources.Clinical Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT01787110.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. A400
Author(s):  
D. Karouby ◽  
F. Bocquet ◽  
D. Chevalier ◽  
P. Paubel

2020 ◽  
pp. 106002802094459
Author(s):  
Dat Ngo ◽  
Jason Chen

Objective: To summarize and review the clinical data of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved biosimilars for use in treatment of cancer and the current challenges health care institutions face when implementing a newly approved biosimilar. Data Sources: A literature search of the following databases was performed between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2019: PubMed, Google, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Search terms included the words biosimilar, bevacizumab, rituximab, and/or trastuzumab. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Only primary literature on biosimilars with an ongoing or completed phase 3 trial and/or FDA approval were included in the final analysis. Primary literature consisted of peer-reviewed publications, published abstracts, and any results posted on the ClinicalTrials.gov database. Data Synthesis: Clinical trials of FDA-approved biosimilars for bevacizumab, rituximab, and trastuzumab showed no significant differences with respect to efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics when compared with their reference products. Relevance to Patient Care and Clinical Practice: The anticipated growth of biologics in oncology and the recent introduction of biosimilars over the past few years have placed a lot of emphasis on biosimilars as a significant source of cost savings for the health care system. Our article compiles and analyzes existing data on biosimilar efficacy, safety, and financial impact. Conclusions: The major concerns of biosimilars revolve around their long-term efficacy and safety. Even with many questions to be answered, biosimilars have the potential for significant cost savings in the US health care system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (s1) ◽  
pp. 129-130
Author(s):  
Bradley Kramer ◽  
Jessica Jones-Smith ◽  
Bryan Weiner

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Twenty years of evidence show CHW home-visits for asthma improve population health and lower overall health care system costs by reducing costly Emergency Department (ED) visits. We built a model to communicate these results to decision makers and demonstrate how program modifications can improve CHW program sustainability and long-term cost savings. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: This CHW program simulation model (CHWsim) examines program level outcomes of sustainability and costs. CHWsim is populated with individuals in an asthma registry with frequent ED visits. The simulation shows the uptake of the CHW program, and the less frequent use of ED visits based on empirical data from a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT). CHWsim is interactive, allowing for parameter adjustments to programming and robust quantitative evaluation of those changes. We study sustainability using parameters based on number of CHWs, case load, frequency and duration of program. For cost outcomes, we use empirical data from a published return on investment study to demonstrate the cost of CHW programming vs. health care systems savings from reduced ED visits. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We demonstrate a basic model that successfully simulates a recent RCT (n = 551), replicating the primary outcome of reduced ED visits within the Confidence Intervals. The model is validated by reproducing results of other RCTs. Results will also be presented from an in-process expanded model that simulates the intervention in a broader population (n = 4000). We test two programmatic changes and demonstrate how these modifications might improve health outcomes (reduced ED visits) that translate into cost savings to the system. 1) In the original trial, we served only one household member; in the model, we treat the full household, serving several individuals at the same time. 2) We also consider the assumption that a short annual visit might sustain the known 12-month health effect across many years. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: CHWsim uses individual level local data and patient characteristics to demonstrate the impact of program efficiencies to improve CHW program sustainability and reduce health care system costs without expensive new RCTs. CHWsim has the potential to improve CHW program delivery and influence funders to provide support.


Author(s):  
Alvaro J Riascos ◽  
Natalia Serna

Health-care systems that rely on hospitalization for early patient treatment pose a financial concern for governments. In this article, the author suggests a hospitalization prevention program in which the decision of whether to intervene on a patient depends on a simple decision model and the prediction of the patient risk of an annual length-of-stay using machine learning techniques. These results show that the prevention program achieves significant cost savings relative to several base scenarios for program efficacies greater than or equal to 40% and intervention costs per patient of 100,000 to 700,000 Colombian pesos (i.e., approximately 14% to 100% of the average cost per patient in Colombia statuary health care system). This article also shows how tree-based methods outperform linear regressions when predicting an annual length-of-stay and the final model achieves a lower out-of-sample error compared to those of the Heritage Health Prize.


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