A palliative care approach for adult non-cancer patients with life-limiting illnesses is cost-saving or cost-neutral: a systematic review of RCTs.

BACKGROUND: Patients living with life-limiting illnesses other than cancer constitute the majority of patients in need of palliative care globally, yet most previous systematic reviews of the cost impact of palliative care have not exclusively focused on this population. Reviews that tangentially looked at non-cancer patients found inconclusive evidence. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for treatment efficacy, while total health care costs offer a comprehensive measure of resource use. In the sole review of RCTs for non-cancer patients, palliative care reduced hospitalisations and emergency department visits but its effect on total health care costs was not assessed. The aim of this study is to review RCTs to determine the difference in costs between a palliative care approach and usual care in adult non-cancer patients with a life-limiting illness. METHODS: A systematic review using a narrative synthesis approach. The protocol was registered with PROSPERO prospectively (no. CRD42020191082). Eight databases were searched: Medline, CINAHL, EconLit, EMBASE, TRIP database, NHS Evidence, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from inception to January 2023. Inclusion criteria were: English or German; randomised controlled trials (RCTs); adult non-cancer patients (> 18 years); palliative care provision; a comparator group of standard or usual care. Quality of studies was assessed using Drummond's checklist for assessing economic evaluations. RESULTS: Seven RCTs were included and examined the following diseases: neurological (3), heart failure (2), AIDS (1) and mixed (1). The majority (6/7) were home-based interventions. All studies were either cost-saving (3/7) or cost-neutral (4/7); and four had improved outcomes for patients or carers and three no change in outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: In a non-cancer population, this is the first systematic review of RCTs that has demonstrated a palliative care approach is cost-saving or at least cost-neutral. Cost savings are achieved without worsening outcomes for patients and carers. These findings lend support to calls to increase palliative care provision globally.

Improved Patient Engagement and Cost Savings Through a Novel Medication Review Process.

Pharmacist-led interventions are pivotal in identifying and resolving potential adverse drug events (pADEs) while enhancing blood pressure control and medication adherence through educational and counseling interventions. This practice brief outlines the outcomes of the Blue Bag Initiative (BBI), which enhanced pharmacist-led comprehensive medication reviews (CMRs) across community pharmacies in Virginia under Center for Disease Control Cooperative Agreement NU58DP006535. BBI yielded a rate of 131.6 pADEs identified per 100 participants and demonstrated cost savings of 1 to 3 million dollars for the health care system. This report underscores the significance of a standardized, pharmacist-led CMR as integral to interdisciplinary team-based care models within physician practices, facilitating medication therapy management implementation. Enhanced CMR can improve cardiovascular health outcomes while reducing health care expenditures by augmenting patient engagement and medication adherence. This study thus highlights the efficacy and potential of pharmacist-led interventions in increasing access to and optimizing patient care.

Time-Driven Activity-based Costing and Outcomes of Same-Day Discharge vs Inpatient Robotic Partial and Radical Nephrectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the outcomes, total healthcare utilization, and cost savings for same-day discharge (SDD) vs inpatient robotic-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) and robotic-assisted radical nephrectomy (RARN). METHODS: We compared 146 RAPNs and 65 RARNs consecutively performed as SDD (RAPN=21, RARN=9) vs inpatient (RAPN=125, RARN=56) from April 2015 to May 2023 at two academic medical centers. We collected baseline demographics, perioperative characteristics, and 30-day complications. We applied the Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing analysis to compare total costs of RAPN and PARN throughout the cycle of care, including inpatient vs SDD. RESULTS: Baseline demographics and comorbidities were similar between patients undergoing inpatient vs SDD RAPN and RARN. One Clavien-Dindo grade II complication (3.3%) requiring readmission due to wound infection for antibiotics occurred after SDD RAPN; no complications occurred after SDD RARN. Two unscheduled office or emergency department visits (6.7%) occurred after SDD RAPN for surgical-site infection and urinary retention. SDD vs inpatient RAPN and RARN demonstrated a $3091 (18%) and $4003 (25%) overall cost reduction, respectively. CONCLUSION: SDD RAPN and RARN result in cost savings of 18%-25% without a difference in complications, and thereby improves value-based care for appropriately selected patients.

5-Year Follow-Up of a Physician Performance Feedback Report Intervention to Reduce Overuse and Excess Cost: A National Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Mohs micrographic surgery efficiently treats skin cancer through staged resection, but surgeons' varying resection rates may lead to higher medical costs. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost savings associated with a quality improvement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study using 100% Medicare fee-for-service claims data to identify the change of mean stages per case for head/neck (HN) and trunk/extremity (TE) lesions before and after the quality improvement intervention from 2016 to 2021. They evaluated surgeon-level change in mean stages per case between the intervention and control groups, as well as the cost savings to Medicare over the same time period. RESULTS: A total of 2,014 surgeons performed Mohs procedures on HN lesions. Among outlier surgeons who were notified, 31 surgeons (94%) for HN and 24 surgeons (89%) for TE reduced their mean stages per case with a median reduction of 0.16 and 0.21 stages, respectively. Reductions were also observed among outlier surgeons who were not notified, reducing their mean stages per case by 0.1 and 0.15 stages, respectively. The associated total 5-year savings after the intervention was 92 million USD. CONCLUSION: The implementation of this physician-led benchmarking model was associated with broad reductions of physician utilization and significant cost savings.

Defining Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: From Research Definition to Clinical Practice.

INTRODUCTION: Approximately 75% of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) qualify as mild. However, there exists no universally agreed upon definition for mild TBI (mTBI). Consequently, treatment guidelines for this group are lacking. The Center for Disease Control (CDC), American College of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM), Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense (VA/DoD), Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), and the University of Arizona's Brain Injury Guidelines (BIG) have each published differing definitions for mTBI. The aim of this study was to compare the ability of these definitions to correctly classify mTBI patients in the acute care setting. METHODS: A single-center, retrospective cohort study comparing the performance of the varying definitions of mTBI was performed at a Level I trauma center from August 2015 to December 2018. Definitions were compared by sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, as well as overtriage and undertriage rates. Finally, a cost-savings analysis was performed. RESULTS: We identified 596 patients suffering blunt TBI with Glasgow Coma Scale 13-15. The CDC/ACRM definitions demonstrated 100% sensitivity but 0% specificity along with the highest rate of undertriage and TBI-related mortality. BIG 1 included nearly twice as many patients than EAST and VA/DoD while achieving a superior positive predictive value and undertriage rate. CONCLUSIONS: The BIG definition identified a larger number of patients compared to the VA/DoD and EAST definitions while having an acceptable and more accurate overtriage and undertriage rate compared to the CDC and ACRM. By eliminating undertriage and minimizing overtriage rates, the BIG maintains patient safety while enhancing the efficiency of healthcare systems. Using the BIG definition, a cost savings of $395,288.95-$401,263.95 per year could be obtained at our level 1 trauma facility without additional mortality.

Economic evidence supports the cost savings of sputum eosinophil counts to guide the treatment of pediatrics patients with persistent asthma: implications for clinical practice guidelines in middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: Tailoring asthma interventions based on biomarkers could substantially impact the high cost associated with asthma morbidity. For policymakers, the main concern is the economic impact of adopting this technology, especially in developing countries. This study evaluates the budget impact of asthma management using sputum eosinophil counts in Colombia patients between 4 and 18 years of age. METHODS: A budget impact analysis was performed to evaluate the potential financial impact of sputum eosinophil counts (EO). The study considered a 5-year time horizon and the Colombian National Health System perspective. The incremental budget impact was calculated by subtracting the cost of the new treatment, in which EO is reimbursed, from the cost of the conventional therapy without EO (management based on clinical symptoms (with or without spirometry/peak flow) or asthma guidelines (or both), for asthma-related). Univariate one-way sensitivity analyses were performed. RESULTS: In the base-case analysis, the 5-year costs associated with EO and no-EO were estimated to be US$ 532.865.915 and US$ 540.765.560, respectively, indicating savings for Colombian National Health equal to US$ 7.899.645, if EO is adopted for the routine management of patients with persistent asthma. This result was robust in univariate sensitivity one-way analysis. CONCLUSION: EO was cost-saving in guiding the treatment of patients between 4 and 18 years of age with persistent asthma. Decision-makers in our country can use this evidence to improve clinical practice guidelines, and it should be replicated to validate their results in other middle-income countries.

The cost of connecting poor households to natural gas in Colombia and its impact on health, 2007 / Impacto en la salud y el costo de conexión de gas natural domiciliario en los hogares pobres en Colombia, 2007

Objective Assessing the cost of subsidizing access to household natural gas (HNG) and its impact on the health of about 35,000 poor households (socioeconomic strata 1 and 2) in Colombia, sponsored by a Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) project. Methods The following studies were combined: an analysis of secondary data and analysis of databases provided by the Promigas foundation, demographic data from the 2005 DANE census and databases regarding Central Bank economic statistical series; an analysis of the burden of disease estimated from parameters identified in previous studies; an analysis of the cost of the burden of illness and the estimated costs which were avoided by implementing the HNG connections program; and an analysis of the cost effectiveness of the program linking homes to HNG services. Results The OBA project led to about 4,000 to 5,000 cases of acute respiratory disease (ARD) and 1,200 to 2,300 outpatient cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) being avoided during the study period; around 1,200 hospitalizations due to ARD and 500 due to COPD were also avoided. Forty-five to 170 deaths (representing about 45,000 to 90,000 disability-adjusted life years (DALY)) were also avoided. The economic cost of the burden of disease arising from ARI and COPD in such scenario without HNG would have been between 10.7 and 23.6 million dollars, whilst HNG led to costs becoming reduced by about 32 %. Conclusions This study was a good estimator of the potential impact of the poorest and most vulnerable households gaining universal access to HNG.

Objetivo Valorar el impacto sanitario y económico de subsidiar el acceso al Gas Natural Domiciliario (GND) a hogares pobres (estratos socioeconómicos 1 y 2) en Colombia, auspiciado por Global Partnership on Output Based Aid (GPOBA), proyecto OBA. Métodos Se combinaron los siguientes estudios: a) Análisis de bases de datos secundarios tomadas de Fundación Promigas, censo DANE 2005, y series estadísticas del Banco de la República b) Análisis de carga de enfermedad estimada a partir de los parámetros de estudios previos c) Análisis de costos de la carga de enfermedad estimada y de los costos evitados luego de implementado el programa de conexiones de GND d) Análisis de costo efectividad del programa de conexiones de los hogares al servicios de GND. Resultados La presencia del proyecto OBA evitaría, durante el periodo de estudio, cerca de 4 mil y 5 mil casos ambulatorio de IRA y entre 1 200 y 2 300 de EPOC. Además, se evitarían cerca de 1200 hospitalizaciones por IRA y cerca de 500 por EPOC. Igualmente se evitaría entre 45 y 170 muertes que representaría cerca de 45 mil a 90 mil AVAD. Los costos económicos de la carga de enfermedad por IRA y EPOC en el escenario sin GND serían entre 10,7 y 23,6 millones de dólares mientras que con GND los costos se reducirían en cerca de un 32 %. Conclusiones El presente estudio es un buen estimador de los potenciales efectos de la universalización del acceso al GND por parte de los hogares más pobres y vulnerables.

Quantifying the reduction in nonmedical costs after the introduction of a rural county hospital in Ecuador / Cuantificación de la reducción de los costos no médicos mediante la apertura de un hospital en un cantón rural del Ecuador

OBJECTIVE: This study attempts to quantify the impact of the introduction of local second-level health services on nonmedical costs (NMCs) for residents of the rural Ecuadorian county of La Maná. METHODS: NMCs for patients accessing second-level health care were assessed by using a quasi-experimental pre- and postintervention study design. In 2007, before local second-level health care services existed, and then in 2008, after the introduction of second-level health care services in the form of a county hospital, 508 patients from the county who sought second-level health care were interviewed. RESULTS: Mean NMCs per patient per illness episode were US$ 93.58 before the county hospital opened and US$ 12.62 after it opened. This difference was largely due to reductions in transport costs (US$ 50.01 vs. US$ 4.28) and food costs (US$ 25.38 vs. US$ 7.28) (P < 0.001 for each category). CONCLUSIONS: NMCs can be decreased sevenfold with the introduction of a county hospital in a rural province previously lacking second-level health care. Introduction of rural second-level health care reduces financial barriers and thus may increase access to these health services for poorer patients in rural communities.

OBJETIVO: Este estudio tiene por objeto cuantificar la repercusión de la introducción de servicios de salud locales de segundo nivel sobre los costos no médicos para los residentes del cantón rural ecuatoriano de La Maná. MÉTODOS: Se evaluaron los costos no médicos de los pacientes que tuvieron acceso a atención médica de segundo nivel mediante un estudio cuasiexperimental de análisis previo y posterior a la intervención. En el 2007 (antes de que existieran servicios locales de este tipo) y en el 2008 (después de la introducción de atención médica de segundo nivel representada por el hospital del cantón) se entrevistaron a 508 pacientes del cantón que requirieron atención médica de segundo nivel. RESULTADOS: Los costos no médicos medios por paciente y por episodio de enfermedad fueron de US$ 93,58 antes de la apertura del hospital local y de US$ 12,62 después de la inauguración del establecimiento. Esta diferencia se debió en gran parte a la reducción de los costos de transporte (US$ 50,01 frente a US$ 4,28) y de los costos de alimentación (US$ 25,38 frente a US$ 7,28) (P < 0,001 para cada categoría). CONCLUSIONES: Es posible reducir los costos no médicos a una séptima parte mediante la apertura de un hospital local en una zona rural que anteriormente carecía de atención médica de segundo nivel. La introducción de atención médica de segundo nivel en una zona rural reduce los obstáculos financieros y, por lo tanto, podría aumentar el acceso a estos servicios de salud para los pacientes más pobres en las comunidades rurales.