Analysis of the U.S. Geological Survey Streamgaging Network

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Arthur G. Scott

This paper summarizes the results from the first 3 years of a 5-year cost-effectiveness study of the U.S. Geological Survey streamgaging network. The objective of the study is to define and document the most cost-effective means of furnishing streamflow information. In the first step of this study, data uses were identified for 3,493 continuous-record stations currently being operated in 32 States. In the second step, evaluation of alternative methods of providing streamflow information, flow-routing models, and regression models were developed for estimating daily flows at 251 stations of the 3,493 stations analyzed. In the third step of the analysis, relationships were developed between the accuracy of the streamflow records and the operating budget. The weighted standard error for all stations, with current operating procedures, was 19.9 percent. By altering field activities, as determined by the analyses, this could be reduced to 17.8 percent. The existing streamgaging networks in four Districts were further analyzed to determine the impacts that satellite telemetry would have on the cost effectiveness. Satellite telemetry was not found to be cost effective on the basis of hydrologic data collection alone, given present cost of equipment and operation.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jifan Wang(New Corresponding Author) ◽  
Michelle A. Lee Bravatti ◽  
Elizabeth J. Johnson ◽  
Gowri Raman(Former Corresponding Author)

Abstract Objectives Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the health claim that 1.5 ounces (42.5 grams) of nut intake may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Previous studies have focused on the cost-effectiveness of other foods or dietary factors on primary CVD prevention, yet not in almond consumption. This study aimed to examine the cost-effectiveness of almond consumption in CVD primary prevention. Perspective & Setting This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of consuming 42.5 grams of almond from the U.S. healthcare sector perspective. Methods A decision model was developed for 42.5 grams of almond per day versus no almond consumption and CVD in the U.S. population. Parameters in the model were derived from the literature, which included the probabilities of increasing LDL-C, developing acute myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke, treating MI, dying from the disease and surgery, as well as the costs of the disease and procedures in the U.S. population, and the quality-adjusted life years (QALY). The cost of almonds was based on the current price in the U.S. market. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for different levels of willingness-to-pay, the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, ten-year risk prevention, different costs of procedures and almond prices, and patients with or without CVD. Results The almond strategy had $363 lower cost and 0.02 higher QALY gain compared to the non-almond strategy in the base-case model. The annual net monetary benefit (NMB) of almond consumption was $1,421 higher per person than no almond consumption, when the willingness to pay threshold was set at $50,000 for annual health care expenditure. Almond was more cost-effective than non-almond in CVD prevention in all the sensitivity analyses. Conclusion Consuming 42.5 grams of almonds per day is a cost-effective approach to prevent CVD in the short term and potentially in the long term.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e20504-e20504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaqi Han ◽  
Huabin Hu ◽  
Mengting Liao ◽  
Longjiang She ◽  
Linli Yao ◽  
...  

e20504 Background: Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbouring an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation have improved survival with tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatments, but the economic efficiency of this application is unclear, especially in limited health resource settings. To inform policy makers about the value of these medications, we developed a Markov model to compare the cost-effectiveness of these strategies. Methods: A Markov model was developed to compare the cost-effectiveness of chemotherapy, gefitinib, erlotinib, afatinib and osimertinib treatments from a public payers’ perspective in the U.S and China. Health states consisted of progression-free survival, progressive disease, and death. Model transition, adverse event probabilities, disease progression, and death were obtained from randomized clinical trials and network meta-analysis. Costs, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) over a 10-year lifetime horizon were calculated. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed by multiple potentially modifiable parameters. Results: The tyrosine kinase inhibitors were more cost-effective than chemotherapy treatment in both the U.S and China. In the U.S, compared with erlotinib, afatinib had an ICER of $241,420/QALY while osimertinib had an ICER of $351,315/QALY. In China, the incremental utility for osimertinib versus gefitinib was 0.68QALYs, and the ICER was $25,622/QALY. The probability sensitivity analyses also illustrated that the erlotinib was the optimal treatment at a willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of $150,000/QALY in the U.S and osimertinib was the most cost-effective treatment at a WTP of $26,508/QALY in China. Conclusions: Based on our current analysis, erlotinib appears to be the preferred first-line treatment for advanced EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC patients in the US at a WTP of $150,000/QALY. However, because of the price reduction and more health benefits, osimertinib was considered to be most cost-effective at a WTP of $26,508/QALY in China.


Crisis ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dayna Atkins Whitmer ◽  
David Lauren Woods

Background: The Golden Gate Bridge (GGB) is a well-known “suicide magnet” and the site of approximately 30 suicides per year. Recently, a suicide barrier was approved to prevent further suicides. Aims: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of the proposed suicide barrier, we compared the proposed costs of the barrier over a 20-year period ($51.6 million) to estimated reductions in mortality. Method: We reviewed San Francisco and Golden Gate Bridge suicides over a 70-year period (1936–2006). We assumed that all suicides prevented by the barrier would attempt suicide with alternative methods and estimated the mortality reduction based on the difference in lethality between GGB jumps and other suicide methods. Cost/benefit analyses utilized estimates of value of statistical life (VSL) used in highway projects. Results: GGB suicides occur at a rate of approximately 30 per year, with a lethality of 98%. Jumping from other structures has an average lethality of 47%. Assuming that unsuccessful suicides eventually committed suicide at previously reported (12–13%) rates, approximately 286 lives would be saved over a 20-year period at an average cost/life of approximately $180,419 i.e., roughly 6% of US Department of Transportation minimal VSL estimate ($3.2 million). Conclusions: Cost-benefit analysis suggests that a suicide barrier on the GGB would result in a highly cost-effective reduction in suicide mortality in the San Francisco Bay Area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-57
Author(s):  
Roman A. Khmel’nitskij ◽  
Аndrej V. Vislobokov

Introduction: Given a wide range of pathogenesis of the inflammatory process in pyoderma, which involves a variety of links in the immune response, work is underway to find ways to optimize immunocorrection in this pathology. The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical and economic effectiveness of immunocorrection in severe and chronic forms of pyoderma with drugs from different pharmacological groups. Materials and methods: The data sources were prospective randomized comparative studies of therapy of 107 pyoderma patients aged 18 to 60 years, divided into groups. The patients of the first group additionally used a biologically active additive containing immunoactive molecules and transfer factors (TF) as an immunomodulator; the patients of the second group used glucosaminylmuramildipeptide (GMDP). The clinical effectiveness of regression of inflammatory symptoms on day 10 of treatment was analyzed. Based on the obtained data, the following types of pharmacoeconomical analysis were performed: calculation of the course price, the cost/effectiveness ratio, and the availability coefficient. Results and discussion: The results of the study showed that the number of cured patients was 91.4% in the first group and 97.2% in the second group of patients. The treatment cost when using the drug is by 970 rubles smaller; the cost/effectiveness ratio (CER) per patient was 1.8 higher for a drug containing transfer factors and amounted to 25.9. The calculation of the availability coefficient (AC) revealed a difference in glucosaminylmuramyldipeptide which was 2.1 times smaller. Conclusion: It was found that a drug based on glucosaminylmuramildipeptide is a more effective and cost-effective means of immunocorrection in severe forms of pyoderma. This confirms a faster regression of clinical manifestations of the disease and lower cost/effectiveness ratio and availability coefficient.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jifan Wang ◽  
Michelle A. Lee Bravatti ◽  
Elizabeth J. Johnson ◽  
Gowri Raman

Abstract Background Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the health claim that 1.5 ounces (42.5 grams) of nut intake may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have focused on the cost-effectiveness of other foods or dietary factors on primary cardiovascular disease prevention, yet not in almond consumption. This study aimed to examine the cost-effectiveness of almond consumption in cardiovascular disease primary prevention. Perspective & Setting This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of consuming 42.5 grams of almond from the U.S. healthcare sector perspective. Methods A decision model was developed for 42.5 grams of almond per day versus no almond consumption and cardiovascular disease in the U.S. population. Parameters in the model were derived from the literature, which included the probabilities of increasing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, developing acute myocardial infarction and stroke, treating acute myocardial infarction, dying from the disease and surgery, as well as the costs of the disease and procedures in the U.S. population, and the quality-adjusted life years. The cost of almonds was based on the current price in the U.S. market. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for different levels of willingness-to-pay, the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, ten-year risk prevention, different costs of procedures and almond prices, and patients with or without cardiovascular disease. Results The almond strategy had $363 lower cost and 0.02 higher quality-adjusted life years gain compared to the non-almond strategy in the base-case model. The annual net monetary benefit of almond consumption was $1,421 higher per person than no almond consumption, when the willingness to pay threshold was set at $50,000 for annual health care expenditure. Almond was more cost-effective than non-almond in cardiovascular disease prevention in all the sensitivity analyses. Conclusion Consuming 42.5 grams of almonds per day is a cost-effective approach to prevent cardiovascular disease in the short term and potentially in the long term.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jifan Wang ◽  
Michelle A. Lee Bravatti ◽  
Elizabeth J. Johnson ◽  
Gowri Raman

Abstract Background Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the health claim that 1.5 oz. (42.5 g) nut intake may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Previous studies have focused on the cost-effectiveness of other foods or dietary factors on primary CVD prevention, yet not in almond consumption. This study aimed to examine the cost-effectiveness of almond consumption in CVD prevention. Methods A decision model was developed for 42.5 g almond per day versus no almond consumption and CVD in the U.S. population. Parameters in the model were derived from the literature, which included the probabilities of increasing LDL-C, developing acute myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke, treating MI, dying from the disease and surgery, as well as the costs of the disease and procedures in the U.S. population, and the quality-adjusted life years (QALY). The cost of almonds was based on the current price in the U.S. market. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for the time of almond consumption, ten-year risk prevention, patients with or without CVD and using sex-specific probabilities for MI, and varying the costs of procedures and almonds. Results The almond strategy had $302 lower cost and 0.02 QALY gain compared to the non-almond strategy in the main analysis. The annual net monetary benefit (NMB) of almond consumption was $1,360 higher per person than no almond consumption, when the willingness to pay threshold was set at $50,000 for annual health care expenditure. Almond was more cost-effective than non-almond in CVD prevention in all the sensitivity analyses, except for the time of almond consumption as a morning or afternoon snack or when costs of almonds increased from $0.47 to $1.41 per day. Conclusion Consuming 42.5 g of almonds per day is a cost-effective approach to prevent CVD in the short term and potentially in the long term.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 702-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Black ◽  
Jane K Turpie ◽  
Nalini Rao

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is increasingly being promoted as a cost-effective means of adaptation to climate change. However, in spite of considerable international press, there is still little evidence to substantiate this claim. This study proposes a method through which the cost-effectiveness of EbA strategies can be evaluated against alternative adaptation options, and contributes to South African literature on the subject. The potential cost-effectiveness of wetland restoration is assessed as a means of securing the carrying capacity of land for pastoralist communities of the Kamiesberg communal area in South Africa under projected future climate conditions. The conventional alternatives would be to respond to increasingly dry conditions by drilling boreholes and using supplemental feed for livestock. It was assumed that the EbA interventions would occur upfront, whereas the alternatives are more likely to be implemented in reaction to droughts over a longer time period. The study found the implementation of conventional alternatives to be more cost-effective than EbA as a means to sustaining livestock stocking rates, with EbA being twice as costly. However, this is framed from the perspective of those directly affected (the landowners), and does not include the benefits to broader society.


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.


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