Use of valsartan for the treatment of heart-failure patients not receiving ACE inhibitors: A budget impact analysis

Autor: Dean G. Smith, Feride Frech, Annamaria Cerulli
Rok vydání: 2005
Předmět:
Zdroj: Clinical Therapeutics. 27:951-959
ISSN: 0149-2918
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2005.06.014
Popis: Background: Heart failure is a widespread and costly malady. It represents the leading single diagnosis for hospitalized patients. For many heart failure patients, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are either not tolerated or contraindicated, but angiotensin receptor blockers such as valsartan may be a therapeutic option for them. Objective: The aim of this study was to prepare a budget impact analysis to assist health plans in evaluating the financial impact of adding valsartan therapy to usual care for heart failure patients not receiving ACE inhibitors. Methods: A budget impact analysis was developed for a hypothetical US health plan. Model inputs included demographic data, estimates of the prevalence of heart failure and proportion of heart-failure patients not on ACE inhibitors, prevalence of heart failure-related hospitalization, cost data, and resultant health care utilization from the Valsartan Heart Failure Trial (Val-HeFT). Costs and cost savings were reported as year-2001 US dollars. Results: An estimated 1207 of hypothetical 250,000 enrollees were projected to have heart-failure diagnoses, with 603 (50.0%) not receiving ACE inhibitors, and 160 (26.5%) of such patients being hospitalized each year. For valsartan-treated patients, savings due to reduced hospitalizations and shorter length of hospital stay were $1,083,938 and $221,364, respectively. Subtracting the cost of valsartan treatment ($629,472) from savings yielded projected net savings of $675,830 per year. Varying patient, treatment, and payer-mix characteristics resulted in projected net savings of $409,598 to $1,350,617 per year. Conclusions: Addition of valsartan therapy to usual care in this model analysis resulted in net cost savings among hypothetical heart-failure patients not receiving ACE inhibitors. Substantial cost savings were realized, regardless of variation in model parameters.
Databáze: OpenAIRE