BACKGROUND Ivabradine is a heart rate-lowering agent approved to reduce the risk of hospitalization for worsening heart failure. This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of adding ivabradine to background therapy in the United States from the perspective of a commercial or Medicare Advantage payer. METHODS AND RESULTS A cost-effectiveness, cohort-based Markov model using a state transition ...

There is an increasing demand for acute care services due in part to rising proportions of older people and increasing rates of chronic diseases. To reduce pressure and costs in the hospital system, community-based post-acute care discharge services for older people have evolved as one method of reducing length of stay in hospital and preventing readmissions. However, it is unclear whether they...

BACKGROUND Asthma education and action plans (AP) have been recognized as important components in the optimal management of asthma. Studies have differed on the importance of a peak flow-based self-management plans in reducing health care costs and use due to asthma exacerbation. OBJECTIVE To analyze the cost-effectiveness of peak flow-based action plans in reducing costs associated with ER v...

BACKGROUND Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a costly morbidity in very low birth weight (VLBW; <1,500 g birth weight) infants that increases hospital length of stay and requires expensive treatments. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the cost of NEC as a function of dose and exposure period of human milk (HM) feedings received by VLBW infants during the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalizat...

OBJECTIVE Nulliparous women are frequently hospitalized for treatment of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). GOAL The goal of this study was to determine the economic feasibility of hospitalizing adolescents and young women for PID. STUDY DESIGN The authors conducted a Markov decision model, estimating the cost-effectiveness of hospitalization compared with outpatient therapy for mild to mod...

OBJECTIVES Although bronchiolitis is the leading cause of hospitalization for infants, there are limited data describing the epidemiology of bronchiolitis hospitalizations, and the associated cost is unknown. Our objective was to determine nationally representative estimates of the frequency of bronchiolitis hospitalizations and its associated costs. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed the 2002 ...

In the Medicare program, increases in cost sharing by a supplemental insurer can exert financial externalities. We study a policy change that raised patient cost sharing for the supplemental insurer for retired public employees in California. We find that physician visits and prescription drug usage have elasticities that are similar to those of the RAND Health Insurance Experiment (HIE). Unlik...