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Biomedical subjects

J W Hay

Publications and source records attributed to J W Hay.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Cost-effectiveness analysis of alternative factor VIII products in treatment of haemophilia A.

Manufactured factor VIII (FVIII) concentrates of varying purity are available for managing patients with haemophilia A. This study is a cost-effectiveness analysis of ultra-high purity and recombinant (UHP/R) FVIII products relative to intermediate and very-high purity (IP/VHP) preparations. Because the societal (including research and development) costs of FVIII products are unknown and product prices vary with market conditions, we conducted the analysis with treatment cost as a variable quantity. We estimated the largest price premium that could be paid for a UHP/R concentrate relative to an IP/VHP concentrate such that the UHP/R product is the more cost-effective preparation. In the analysis haemophilic patients were assumed to be seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus, seropositive for hepatitis C (HCV), or at risk for seroconversion of hepatitis A (HAV) or hepatitis B (HBV). The results showed that the maximum cost-effective UHP/R price premium is essentially zero if the patient is only at risk of HAV or HBV infection, positive but small for the base-case HCV+ patient, and positive and large for the base-case HIV+ patient having a short life expectancy. Thus UHP/R preparations are not uniformly more cost-effective than IP/VHP products across the spectrum of haemophilic patients' health problems, and the relative cost-effectiveness of the two classes of prepared FVIII products is sensitive to product prices. The methodology employed here can be used in other circumstances where multiple treatments exist for illnesses for which there are significant multiple comorbidities or health risks.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1999

Pharmacoeconomics of lipid-lowering agents for primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and the leading source of healthcare expenditure in the US and most other industrialised countries. Cholesterol lowering by pharmacological means prevents atherosclerotic plaque progression and has been shown to reduce both fatal and nonfatal coronary events in patients with or without coronary artery disease (CAD). Because of their excellent efficacy and safety profiles, the introduction of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (also known an 'statins') in 1987 raised hopes for demonstrating the survival benefit of cholesterol reduction. In the past decade, several large-scale placebo-controlled trials with statin therapy have revisited the relationship between cholesterol reduction, cardiovascular disease and mortality. The West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS) [pravastatin] and the Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study (AFCAPS/TexCAPS) [lovastatin] have shown significant cardiovascular disease reduction in primary prevention trials of patients with elevated and normal cholesterol levels, respectively. The Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S), the Long-Term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) Study and the Cholesterol and Recurrent Events (CARE) trial [pravastatin] have shown significant cardiovascular disease reduction in patients with a previous history of CAD with high, moderate and normal cholesterol levels, respectively. Three of these studies (4S, WOSCOPS and LIPID) have shown significant reduction in all-cause mortality, while all the statin secondary prevention trials (4S, CARE and LIPID) have demonstrated significant reduction in cerebrovascular disease/ Earlier cholesterol reduction cost-effectiveness studies with nonstatin treatments (bile acid resins, fibrates, niacin and diet) suggested that only patients at extremely high risk could be treated with lipid therapy in a cost-effective manner. More recently, rigorous outcomes evidence demonstrates that statins, particularly for simvastatin for secondary prevention and lovastatin for primary prevention, have a broadly favourable cost-effectiveness profile. Based on US medical price levels and the available clinical trial data on statins, it would be cost effective [e.g. cost less than $US50,000/year of life saved] to intervene with statin therapy in any patient with an annual CAD risk exceeding 1%. This includes all patients with pre-existing CAD or diabetes mellitus, and many more primary prevention patients than are currently contemplated by the US National Cholesterol Education Panel treatment guidelines. Achieving such a goal will require enormous changes in patient education, clinical perspective, healthcare practice and healthcare finances. But any proven opportunity for saving the lives of 25% of those dying from cardiovascular disease each year deserves to be considered with the utmost seriousness and urgency.

Coronary Disease↗
PubMed1998

The Kaiser Permanente/USC Patient Consultation Study: change in use and cost of health care services.

The impacts of three alternative models of pharmacist consultation on the use and cost of health care services were studied. Two studies were conducted concurrently in an HMO over two years. In one, 6000 patients were randomly assigned to one of three consultation models; in the other, the three models were implemented in six geographic regions of California (4600 patients). The models were (1) consultation about new or changed prescriptions as mandated by state law (state model), (2) consultation focused on selected high-risk ambulatory care patients (Kaiser Permanente [KP] model), and (3) a control model. The patients were surveyed three times about their health status and satisfaction, and computerized data on health care use and cost were collected. The effect of the consultation models on the use and cost of health care services was examined across five risk groups that were based on drug-use profiles. An additional 37,750 patients (10% of the patients residing in the areawide study sites) were included in a supplemental analysis of the use and cost of health care services. There was no indication in the random-assignment study that pharmacist consultations affected either drug costs or the cost of office visits. Similar results were found in the areawide study, with the exception that the KP model was associated with lower drug costs than the control model. In the 10% sample, the KP model appeared to be associated with lower office visit costs but higher drug costs. Both models were associated with a lower likelihood of a hospital admission and with lower total health care costs for some high-risk patients compared with the control model. Counseling patients about their medications may be unlikely to reduce medication costs or the cost of office visits but may reduce the likelihood of hospital admissions and the overall costs of health care services; a combination of counseling patients at high risk for drug-related problems and counseling all patients about any new or changed prescription should be considered.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Economic modeling and sensitivity analysis.

The field of pharmacoeconomics (PE) faces serious concerns of research credibility and bias. The failure of researchers to reproduce similar results in similar settings, the inappropriate use of clinical data in economic models, the lack of transparency, and the inability of readers to make meaningful comparisons across published studies have greatly contributed to skepticism about the validity, reliability, and relevance of these studies to healthcare decision-makers. Using a case study in the field of lipid PE, two suggestions are presented for generally applicable reporting standards that will improve the credibility of PE. Health economists and researchers should be expected to provide either the software used to create their PE model or a multivariate sensitivity analysis of their PE model. Software distribution would allow other users to validate the assumptions and calculations of a particular model and apply it to their own circumstances. Multivariate sensitivity analysis can also be used to present results in a consistent and meaningful way that will facilitate comparisons across the PE literature. Using these methods, broader acceptance and application of PE results by policy-makers would become possible. To reduce the uncertainty about what is being accomplished with PE studies, it is recommended that these guidelines become requirements of both scientific journals and healthcare plan decision-makers. The standardization of economic modeling in this manner will increase the acceptability of pharmacoeconomics as a practical, real-world science.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

Cognitive function and the costs of Alzheimer disease. An exploratory study.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the dollar savings in costs attainable from drug or other treatments for Alzheimer disease (AD) that stabilize or reverse patients' cognitive decline. METHODS: Medical and other disease-related utilization data were collected from the caregivers of 64 patients diagnosed as having probable AD. The quantities of utilization were priced at national levels to generate measures of illness costs. Costs per patient were then estimated as regression functions of scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), which was used as an index of patient cognitive function. Potential savings in illness costs were estimated by comparing predicted costs at various baseline and intervention-level values of the patient's MMSE score. RESULTS: The potential savings in illness costs attainable from treatment are small for mildly and very severely demented patients with AD. However, for moderately to severely demented home-dwelling patients having, say, an MMSE score of 7 at baseline, prevention of a 2-point decline in the score would save about $3700 annually, and a 2-point increase in an MMSE score rather than a 2-point decline would save about $7100. CONCLUSION: Large savings in the costs of caring for moderately to severely demented home-dwelling patients with AD may be achievable from disease interventions that have minor effects on patients' cognitive status.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Economic research on Alzheimer disease: a review of the literature.

The present review discusses the economic research to date on Alzheimer disease (AD). It focuses on estimates of the costs of AD and on economic evaluations of interventions in the disease. Empirical and conceptual issues concerning the interpretation of costs and the uses of evaluative methodologies also are discussed. We conclude that estimates of the national costs of AD are open to a large margin of uncertainty. We conclude further that significant opportunities exist for new cost-effectiveness or cost-benefit analyses of AD treatments, patient care options, and counselling, respite, or similar programs for AD caregivers.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed1996

Cost-effectiveness of pravastatin in secondary prevention of coronary artery disease.

This study analyzed the cost-effectiveness of pravastatin in secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). The projected risk model in 445 male patients with established CAD and moderately elevated serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol used results data from 2 placebo-controlled plaque regression trials: Pravastatin Limitation of Atherosclerosis in the Coronary Arteries and Pravastatin, Lipids, and Atherosclerosis in the Carotids. Framingham Heart Study data were used to project the risk of mortality 10 years after myocardial infarction (MI) for incremental male patients in the placebo group who had MI. A Markov process was used to estimate life-years saved, and decision analysis was used to estimate cost. Depending on the patient-risk profile, the midrange estimated cost per life-year saved with pravastatin in secondary prevention of CAD varied from $7,124 to $12,665, which is favorable compared with other widely accepted medical interventions.

Anticholesteremic Agents↗
PubMed1994

The US economic and social costs of Alzheimer's disease revisited.

UNLABELLED: OBJECTIVEs. An earlier paper estimated the per-case and national incidence costs of Alzheimer's disease for 1983. This paper updates the estimates of costs per case to 1991 and presents new national prevalence estimates of the economic and social costs of the disease. METHODS: All data for the cost estimates were taken from published sources or provided by other researchers. RESULTS: At midrange values of the estimated cost and epidemiological parameters, the discounted (at 4%) direct and total costs of Alzheimer's disease were $47,581 and $173,932 per case, respectively. The estimated 1991 national direct and total prevalence costs were $20.6 billion and $67.3 billion, respectively. Assuming conservatively that the prevalence of the disease remains constant, the estimated discounted present values of the direct and total costs of all current and future generations of Alzheimer's patients are $536 billion and $1.75 trillion, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The $536 billion and $1.75 trillion figures are minimum estimates of the long-term dollar losses to the US economy in 1991 caused by Alzheimer's disease.

Aged↗