Pneumologie 2014; 68 - P309
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1367883

Estimating the incremental costs of home oxygen therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Austria using a microsimulation approach

A Vavrovsky 1, R Hochreiter 2
  • 1Academy for Value in Health GmbH, Vienna, Austria
  • 2Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria

Introduction and objective:

  • COPD is one of the most common diseases of the lung in Austria. Among other therapeutic interventions, oxygen therapy is an important option for patients whose levels of oxygen in the blood are low (hypoxia). It is used mostly to slow or prevent right-sided heart failure in patients classified as GOLD stage IV.

  • The objective of our study was to assess the incremental costs of home oxygen therapy in patients with COPD GOLD IV in the Austrian setting.

Materials and methods:

  • Stratification according to GOLD stages was performed using published epidemiological data. [1,2] Data on the effects of home oxygen therapy on hospitalizations were extracted using a Danish study. [3]

  • We developed a microsimulation model to best reflect the situation of people with COPD GOLD IV in Austria.

Results:

  • 18.580 COPD GOLD IV patients were hospitalized in Austria in 2012 for a total of 29.280 hospitalizations. The median number of hospitalizations per patient was 1 per year (Q0.05/0.95: 0/4 – Q0.25/0.75: 0/2).

  • According to the Austrian reimbursement catalogue for hospitals, an average hospital stay of the patients studied is 7.6 days long and the respective daily costs are € 312 per patient.

  • According to our study and modeling, the annual savings of patients supplied with home oxygen therapy amount to € 16 m when compared to patients without this type of therapy. This amounts to € 864 per patient per year.

Discussion:

  • There are strong hints that home oxygen therapy has the potential to provide enormous health value per € spent and could even prove to be cost-saving in a formal economic evaluation.

  • To better inform decisions in health policy, further research is needed to assess the effect of home oxygen therapy on other indicators of resource use in Austria.

References:

1. Nowak P et al. 2013.

2. Roberts M et al. 2012.

3. Ringbaek TJ et al. 2002.

Financial disclosure: the present study was funded by an unrestricted educational grant by the Austrian Economic Chamber.