Scott J. Johnson

Healthcare resource utilization and costs associated with non-adherence to imatinib treatment in chronic myeloid leukemia patients

Abstract Background: Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who do not adhere to treatment may experience suboptimal outcomes. Objective: To examine the association between adherence with imatinib and direct healthcare costs and resource utilization in a large group of privately insured CML patients. Patients and methods: CML patients under age 65 were identified with ICD-9 code 205.1X using MarketScan Commercial Claims data between 1/1/02 and 7/31/08. Patients were required to be continuously enrolled in a private insurance plan during the baseline and study periods, defined respectively as the 4 months prior to and the 12 months following imatinib initiation. Non-adherence was evaluated by the medication possession ratio (MPR), defined as the fraction of days during the study period that patients had filled prescriptions for imatinib, and stratified into two groups (low MPR: <85%, high MPR: ≥85%). Costs, inpatient admissions, and hospital days were compared between high and low adherence groups using Wilcoxon tests. Regression models compared utilization and costs controlling for age, sex, CML severity, Charlson comorbidity index, baseline costs, and other factors. Results: The study sample consisted of 592 patients, where 242 (40.9%) patients were classified with a low MPR, while 350 (59.1%) had a high MPR. Mean MPR was 79% (95% confidence interval 76–81%). Patients with a low MPR incurred more all-cause inpatient visits (4.1 vs. 0.4; p < 0.001) and all-cause inpatient days (14.8 vs. 1.8; p < 0.001). Regression models demonstrated a 283% increase (US

Integrated Telehealth And Care Management Program For Medicare Beneficiaries With Chronic Disease Linked To Savings

56 324; p < 0.001) in non-imatinib costs within the low- vs. high-MPR group. The generalizability of this study is limited by the use of a privately insured population under 65 years of age as well as by the limitations common to claims data analyses. Conclusions: Imatinib adherence is an important issue for patients and physicians. Better imatinib adherence was associated with significantly lower resource utilization and costs in CML patients, as lower imatinib costs in low MPR patients were more than offset by higher non-imatinib costs mostly driven by inpatient services.

Cost Utility of Adalimumab versus Infliximab Maintenance Therapies in the United States for Moderately to Severely Active Crohn’s Disease

Treatment of chronically ill people constitutes nearly four-fifths of US health care spending, but it is hampered by a fragmented delivery system and discontinuities of care. We examined the impact of a care coordination approach called the Health Buddy Program, which integrates a telehealth tool with care management for chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries. We evaluated the programs impact on spending for patients of two clinics in the US Northwest who were exposed to the intervention, and we compared their experience with that of matched controls. We found significant savings among patients who used the Health Buddy telehealth program, which was associated with spending reductions of approximately 7.7-13.3 percent (

Cost-effectiveness of adalimumab for the maintenance of remission in patients with Crohn's disease

312-

Direct costs and survival of medicare beneficiaries with early and advanced parkinson’s disease

542) per person per quarter. These results suggest that carefully designed and implemented care management and telehealth programs can help reduce health care spending and that such programs merit continued attention by Medicare. Meanwhile, mortality differences in the treatment and control groups suggest that the intervention may have produced noticeable changes in health outcomes, but we leave it to future research to explore these effects fully.

An Economic Evaluation of Atorvastatin for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Type 2 Diabetes

AbstractObjective: To determine and compare the cost utilities of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists adalimumab and infliximab as maintenance therapies for patients in the US with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease. Methods: Maintenance regimens of adalimumab (40 mg every other week) and infliximab (5 mg/kg) were compared using primary data from the CHARM and published data from the ACCENT I clinical trials. Differences in study samples were minimized by matching and weighting baseline characteristics (Crohn’s Disease Activity Index score, age and sex) between the patient groups using the primary clinical trial data.Utilization data were estimated from trial data. Unit costs of TNF antagonists (year 2007 values), hospitalizations (year 2006 values), and other medical costs (year 2006 values) were derived from a systematic literature search. Standard gamble-calculated primary data were used to derive health-utility estimates.Data were analysed in a cost-utility framework from a private payer perspective over a 56-week time horizon. Univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were used to explore uncertainty related to the base-case cost-utility analysis. Given the time horizon, costs and effects were not discounted. Results: Adalimumab- and infliximab-treated patients were in remission for 47.2% and 37.1% of the 56-week period, respectively. Hospital admissions were 34–40% lower for adalimumab than for infliximab, based on the model and observed data, respectively. Patients treated with adalimumab accrued greater expected QALYs (0.014; 95% CI 0.000, 0.022) and lower costs (-

Effects of Care Management and Telehealth:: A Longitudinal Analysis Using Medicare Data

US4852; 95% CI -6758, 491) in the first year of therapy than patients treated with infliximab. Compared with infliximab maintenance therapy, adalimumab had lower drug and administration costs, less drug waste, and lower hospitalization rates. Univariate and multivariate probabilistic sensitivity analyses suggested that these results were robust. Conclusions: This analysis suggests that adalimumab maintenance therapy is a dominant strategy versus infliximab maintenance therapy for patients with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease. Adalimumab appeared more effective and less costly than infliximab.

Early retirement and income loss in patients with early and advanced Parkinson’s disease

Objective Adalimumab is a fully human, monoclonal antibody clinically effective for the treatment of active Crohns disease. The cost-effectiveness of adalimumab versus conventional, nonbiologic pharmacotherapies is unknown. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of adalimumab versus conventional, nonbiologic pharmacotherapies in the maintenance of Crohns disease. Methods Trial data from two randomized controlled studies [Crohns Trial of the Fully Human Antibody Adalimumab for Remission Maintenance (CHARM) and CLinical Assessment of Adalimumab Safety and Efficacy Studied as Induction Therapy in Crohns Disease (CLASSIC I)] were analyzed within a cost-utility framework using a 1-year horizon from the perspective of the National Health Service (UK). The treatment efficacy and use for the adalimumab arm were based on observations from CHARM. A regression model used data from CLASSIC I to predict efficacy in patients who received nonbiologic pharmacotherapy. Unit costs of drugs, hospitalization, and other medical resources were derived from the literature. Primary standard gamble-calculated data were used to derive health-utility estimates. Results Compared with conventional, nonbiologic pharmacotherapy, adalimumab seemed to be cost-effective for the treatment of patients with severe disease and moderate-to-severe disease. The 56-week incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was £16 064/quality-adjusted life-year and £33 731/quality-adjusted life-year for severe and moderate-to-severe groups, respectively. Sensitivity analyses showed that the findings were robust. In the treatment of patients over their lifetimes, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was £6550/quality-adjusted life-year and £17 873/quality-adjusted life-year for patients with severe Crohns disease and those with moderate-to-severe Crohns disease, respectively. Conclusion Adalimumab maintenance therapy seems to be cost-effective versus conventional, nonbiologic therapies for the maintenance of remission in patients with active Crohns disease.

An economic model of Parkinson's disease: implications for slowing progression in the United States.

BACKGROUND No recent analysis details Parkinsons Disease (PD) costs or survival for Medicare beneficiaries. This study assesses excess direct costs and survival in Medicare beneficiaries with early and advanced PD. METHODS Patients with ≥ 2 PD diagnoses (ICD-9-CM: 332.0), ≥ age 65, continuously enrolled in Parts A&B during one-year baseline and study periods were selected from the Medicare 5% sample (N = 3.2 million, 1999-2008). Newly diagnosed patients were defined as having no baseline claims for movement disorder, dementia, Alzheimers, bipolar disorder, psychosis, falls or related injuries, ambulatory assistance device (walker or wheelchair), or skilled nursing facility. Controls without PD were demographically matched 1:1. Costs to Medicare were compared via Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and inverse probability weighted multivariate regression. Survival was assessed via Cox proportional hazards analysis. RESULTS Costs in the year post-diagnosis were higher for newly diagnosed patients (N = 9,201,

Direct costs associated with initiating NPH insulin versus glargine in patients with type 2 diabetes: A retrospective database analysis

7423) than controls (