984A novel cost diary approach to analyse the financial burden of living with arthritis

Focus of Presentation Amongst Australia’s working-age population with arthritis, financial distress is known to be high and contribute to poorer health outcomes. Yet the personal financial burden of living with arthritis is not well understood. Here we present initial findings from one of the first projects to measure personal financial distress as a determinant of health for individuals living with arthritis. Findings Participants aged 18-50 years detailed their arthritis-attributable out-of-pocket costs in an online consumer-informed cost diary; once a week, for six weeks, alongside a work productivity and financial distress scale. Costs were grouped into seven categories, including: direct medical appointments, allied health appointments, other health appointments, medications or supplements, symptom/pain management items, medical tests, and other expenses. Costs per individual per week ranged from $40.30 (AUD) to $25,789 (AUD). High costs were not linked to quality of care, demonstrated by one participant spending $495.00 (AUD) on chiropractic appointments across the six weeks. High levels of financial distress were associated with reduced work productivity, but were not associated with level of weekly expenditure. Conclusions/Implications Adults with arthritis experience financial hardship associated with their disease. Discussion of arthritis-related financial concerns should form part of shared clinical decision-making and education, to facilitate prioritisation of care that is evidence-based and feasible. Key messages These findings can be used to raise awareness of key fiscal issues relevant to adults with arthritis, and to educate clinicians about the wide-ranging impacts of arthritis beyond physical symptoms.

Acceptability and Validity of Use of a Patient-Reported Cost Diary To Capture Health Resource Utilization and Costs Associated with Deep Venous Thrombosis and Post-Thrombotic Syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the acceptability and validity of a patient-reported cost diary to estimate health resource utilization (HRU) and costs associated with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS). METHODS: We developed a cost diary for use in the Venous Thrombosis Outcomes (VETO) Study, a prospective multicenter cohort study of long-term outcomes after DVT. The VETO cost diary is a 28-item patient-reported questionnaire used to capture information pertaining to HRU and direct and indirect costs attributable to DVT and PTS. Data for HRU and direct costs included hospitalizations, physician visits, purchase of prescription and over-the-counter medications, use of transportation and other medical services and purchase or rental of equipment. Data pertaining to indirect costs included time lost from work by patients or their caregivers. Patients were asked to complete the cost diary monthly for 1 year, then for 3 randomly chosen months for the 2nd year. Acceptability of the cost diary was assessed by estimating the percent of time coverage per patient over the study follow-up period. Internal consistency was assessed by comparing data reported by patients in the cost diary to similar data collected in nurse-administered study questionnaires. External validity was assessed by comparing HRU data reported in the cost diaries to patient-specific data obtained from the administrative database of the Province of Quebec Health Insurance Board (RAMQ) for the same time period. RESULTS: 387 patients with objectively diagnosed DVT participated in the VETO Study, of whom 359 from 7 hospitals in Quebec, Canada contributed to this analysis (∼ 40% developed PTS). Analyses showed that acceptability of the cost diary was high, with more than 82% of patients reporting data for > 90% of the study follow-up period. Internal consistency analyses revealed discrepancies in reporting of hospitalizations in cost diaries compared to nurse-administered questionnaires (144 vs. 97 hospitalizations, respectively, reported in the first year of the study). Analyses of external validity showed that for the first 4-month study period, the mean number of DVT-related prescriptions reported in the cost diary was comparable to that reported in the RAMQ database (2.48 vs. 3.84, respectively), as was the mean number of DVT-related medical visits (6.39 vs. 7.18, respectively). CONCLUSION: Overall, the VETO cost diary appears to be an acceptable and valid patient-reported instrument that can be used to estimate HRU, direct and indirect costs attributable to DVT and PTS. Further analyses are needed to identify the factors affecting the internal consistency of the cost diary.

Self-reports of health-care utilization: Diary or questionnaire?

Objectives:The feasibility and convergent validity of a cost diary and a cost questionnaire was investigated.Methods:Data were obtained as part of a cost-utility analysis alongside a multicenter clinical trial in patients with resectable rectal cancer. A sample of 107 patients from 30 hospitals was asked to keep a weekly diary during the first 3 months after surgery, and a monthly diary from 3 to 12 months after surgery. A second sample of seventy-two patients from twenty-eight hospitals in the trial received a questionnaire at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery, referring to the previous 3 or 6 months. Format and items of the questions were similar and included a wide range of medical and nonmedical items and costs after hospitalization for surgery.Results:Small differences were found with respect to nonresponse (range, 79 to 86 percent) and missing questions (range, 1 to 6 percent between the diary and questionnaire). For most estimates of volumes of care and of costs, the diary and questionnaire did not differ significantly. Total 3-month nonhospital costs were €1,860, €1,280, and €1,050 in the diary sample and €1,860, €1,090, and €840 in the questionnaire sample at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery, respectively (p=.50). However, with respect to open questions, the diary sample tended to report significantly more care.Conclusions:For the assessment of health-care utilization in economic evaluations alongside clinical trials, a cost questionnaire with structured closed questions may replace a cost diary for recall periods up to 6 months.