Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
-
Standard pharmacotherapy for patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) includes treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). This study examined the effect of GERD patients' compliance with PPI therapy on health-care resource utilization and costs. ⋯ Both health-care resource use and costs were reduced after initiation of PPI therapy. Additional reductions from the pre-PPI period were further observed by compliance with PPI therapy.
-
Comparative Study
Ultrasound-guided central line placement as compared with standard landmark technique: some unpleasant arithmetic for the economics of medical innovation.
We perform a simple cost estimation of ultrasound guidance for the placement of central venous access, considering the US federal reimbursement for ultrasound guidance of central line placement to the federal reimbursement for treating the complication of pneumothorax. ⋯ The cost of ultrasound guidance was not mitigated by its reduction in the cost of treating pneumothoraces.
-
To examine the cost of care for laparoscopic versus open surgery and the added cost of nosocomial infections for three common surgical procedures: cholecystectomy, hysterectomy, and appendectomy. ⋯ The cost of care for laparoscopic surgery is lower than open surgery for cholecystectomy, hysterectomy, and appendectomy. This conclusion is based on actual hospital reimbursement data.
-
Multicenter Study
Drotrecogin alfa's impact on intensive care workload in real life practice: a propensity score approach.
To estimate the impact of drotrecogin alfa (DA) on intensive care workload in an observational study while illustrating the use of propensity score (PS) matching to control for recruitment bias. ⋯ We found a significant effect of DA on ICU workload with both standard methods of adjustment and PS matching. This effect appears to be mainly due to DA's effect on bleeding events. The analysis illustrated the usefulness of PS methods in the analysis of observational data, as it leads to conclusions similar to the traditional multivariate regression approaches while avoiding making too many adjustments, allowing focusing on the treatment effect.
-
Contacts of patients with active tuberculosis ("TB contacts") with a tuberculin skin test (TST) size > or = 5 mm are currently recommended treatment for latent TB infection (LTBI). Knowing the cost-effectiveness of LTBI therapy for specific TB contact subpopulations may improve the use of limited resources by reducing the treatment of persons at low TB risk. ⋯ The current practice of LTBI treatment for TB contacts with a TST size > or = 5 mm is cost-effective. A customized approach based on excluding low risk groups from screening and providing treatment to high risk contacts without screening could improve the performance of the program.