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- Hallert, Eva, et al.
(författare)
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Early rheumatoid arthritis 6 years after diagnosis is still associated with high direct costs and increasing loss of productivity : the Swedish TIRA project
- 2014
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology. - : Informa Healthcare. - 0300-9742 .- 1502-7732. ; 43:3, s. 177-183
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: To calculate total costs over 6 years after diagnosis of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Method: In the longitudinal prospective multicentre TIRA study, 239 patients from seven units, diagnosed in 1996–98, reported regularly on health-care utilization and the number of days lost from work. Costs were obtained from official databases and calculated using unit costs (Swedish kronor, SEK) from 2001. Indirect costs were calculated using the human capital approach (HCA). Costs were inflation adjusted to Euro June 2012, using the Swedish Consumer Price Index and the exchange rate of June 2012. Statistical analyses were based on linear mixed models (LMMs) for changes over time.Results: The mean total cost per patient was EUR 14 768 in year 1, increasing to EUR 18 438 in year 6. Outpatient visits and hospitalization decreased but costs for surgery increased from EUR 92/patient in year 1 to EUR 444/patient in year 6. Drug costs increased from EUR 429/patient to EUR 2214/patient, mainly because of the introduction of biologics. In year 1, drugs made up for 10% of direct costs, and increased to 49% in year 6. Sick leave decreased during the first years but disability pensions increased, resulting in unchanged indirect costs. Over the following years, disability pensions increased further and indirect costs increased from EUR 10 284 in year 1 to EUR 13 874 in year 6. LMM analyses showed that indirect costs were unchanged whereas direct costs, after an initial fall, increased over the following years, leading to increasing total costs.Conclusions: In the 6 years after diagnosis of early RA, drug costs were partially offset by decreasing outpatient visits but indirect costs remained unchanged and total costs increased.
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| 2. |
- Hallert, Eva, et al.
(författare)
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Rheumatoid arthritis is still expensive in the new decade: a comparison between two early RA cohorts, diagnosed 1996-98 and 2006-09
- 2016
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0300-9742 .- 1502-7732. ; 45:5, s. 371-378
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES:To calculate total costs during the first year after diagnosis in 463 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) included during 2006-09 (T2) and compare the results with a similar cohort included in 1996-98 (T1).METHOD:Clinical and laboratory data were collected regularly in both cohorts, and patients completed biannual questionnaires reporting health care utilization and number of days lost from work.RESULTS:Disease activity was similar in both cohorts T1 and T2 at inclusion. Significant improvements were seen during the first year in both cohorts but were more pronounced in T2. Outpatient care increased and hospitalization decreased in T2 compared with T1. Almost 3% of patients had surgery in both cohorts, but in T2, only women had surgery. Drug costs were higher in T2 than in T1 (EUR 689 vs. EUR 435). In T2, 12% of drug costs were direct costs and 4% were total costs. The corresponding values for T1 were 9% and 3%. In T1, 50% were prescribed disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) at inclusion, compared to T2, where prescription was > 90%. Direct costs were EUR 5716 in T2 and EUR 4674 in T1. Costs for sick leave were lower in T2 than in T1 (EUR 5490 vs. EUR 9055) but disability pensions were higher (EUR 4152 vs. EUR 2139), resulting in unchanged total costs. In T1, direct costs comprised 29% and indirect costs 71% of the total costs. The corresponding values for T2 were 37% and 63%.CONCLUSIONS:The earlier and more aggressive treatment of RA with traditional DMARDs in T2 resulted in better outcomes compared to T1. Direct costs were higher in T2, partly offset by decreased sick leave, but total costs remained unchanged.
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| 3. |
- Kalkan, Almina, 1985-
(författare)
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Diffusion, implementation and consequences of new health technology : The cases of biological drugs for rheumatoid arthritis and the Swedish national guidelines
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Improvements in health technology raise hopes for better patient outcomes and a more efficient delivery of health care. However, the processes of diffusion and implementation of new health technology have been shown to be complicated and to pose a number of challenges for the healthcare sector. Many at tempts have been made to influence and manage the introduction and diffusion of health technology. One prominent example is the Swedish nat ional guidelines that aim at influencing both clinical and political decision - making in the health sector.The overall aim of this thesis is to describe and analyze the factors influencing the diffusion and economic consequences of the introduction of a new technology with large variations in use, and to explore the process of implementation of nationally produced guidelines as an instrument for improv ing effectiveness and equity. The empirical focus is kept on the biological drugs (bDMARDs) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), since they implied a substantial treatment change when they were first int roduced and they are relatively costly; and on the national guidelines for cardiac care, since they were the first nat ional guidelines, hence allowing a long-term perspect ive in the exploration of their implementat ion.Paper I presents a register study that uses data from national and regional registries on healt hcare use and work disability of patients with RA and shows that there was a 32 percent increase in the total fixed cost of RA during 1990-2010, mainly after the introduct ion of bDMARDs. Paper II shows that choosing to initiate treatment with bDMARDs varied substantially among 26 rheumatologists presented with hypothetical patient cases, and that there were also disparities between rheumatologists practicing in the same clinic. Paper III presents data from the Swedish Rheumatology Quality Register covering 4010 patients with RA, and shows that when using multivariate logistic regression to adjust for patient characterist ics, disease activity and t he physician’s local context, physician preference was an import ant predict or for prescription of bDMARDs. Paper IV is a qualitative study about prescribing decisions, showing that a constellat ion of various factors and their interact ion influenced the prescribing decisions according to the 26 interviewed rheumatologists. The factors included the individual rheumatologist ’s experiences and perceptions of t he evidence, the structure of the department including responsibility for costs, peer pressure, political and administrative influences, and participat ion in clinical trials. The patient as an actor emerged as an important factor. Paper V is a longitudinal qualitat ive study exploring the responses among four Swedish county councils to the national guidelines for cardiac care through 155 interviews with politicians, administ rators and clinical managers. The results show that unilateral responses to the national guidelines within the county councils have been rare, but there have been at tempts to compromise and to at tain a balance between multiple constituents. There are examples of local information meetings, the use of the national guidelines in local healthcare programs, and performing audits with the national guidelines as a base. However, performing explicit prioritizat ion as advised in the NGCC is rarely found. Over t ime, however, a more systematic use of the national guidelines has been noted.In conclusion, the diffusion of new health technology is influenced by a wide array of factors both at individual and organizational levels, as well as their interact ion. The diffusion resulted in large economic consequences and unequal access due to variations also at clinical level. Moreover, given that healthcare decision-making is influenced by many different factors, the simple influx of evidence-based guidelines will unlikely result in automat ic implementat ion. At tempts to influence healthcare decisions need to have a systems perspect ive and to account for the interact ion of factors between different actors.
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