$100 Billion Here, $100 Billion There: The Costs and Effectiveness of New Treatments for Hepatitis C

Dr. Mark Roberts provides an overview of Hepatitis C and the new direct acting antivirals, a primer on cost effectiveness analysis (CEA) in health care, using models to predict the impact of new treatment on the Hepatitis C epidemic, and purpose: to use the new drugs for hepatitis C as a vehicle to understand cost effectiveness.

Educational objectives:

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Differentiate the cost effectiveness of a treatment from its budget impact.
• Describe the major components of the costs of treating hepatitis C
• Interpret an incremental cost effectiveness ratio (the ICER)

Reading Resources:

1. Kabiri M, Jazwinski AB, Roberts MS, Schaefer AJ, Chhatwal J. The Changing Burden of Hepatitis C Infection in the United States: Model-based Predictions. Ann Intern Med. 2014 Aug 5;161(3):170-80. PMID 25089861; PMCID PMC4356484
2. Chhatwal J, Kanwal F, Roberts MS, Dunn MA. Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Impact of Hepatitis C Virus Treatment with Sofosbuvir and Ledipasvir in the United States. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2015 Mar 17; 162(6): 397-406. PMID 25775312
3. These two papers in the Annals of Internal Medicine review the modeling and cost effectiveness work our group has completed on the benefits and costs of the newer hepatitis C drugs
4. Detsky A, Naglie IG.  A clinician’s guide to cost-effectiveness analysis.  Annals of Internal Medicine. 1990; 113: 147-154. Although a little old, this is an extremely good summary of cost-effectiveness analysis for folks with primarily a clinical background.

Disclosures:

Dr. Roberts has reported no relevant relationships with any entities producing health care goods or services.

Accreditation Statement:

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of .75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Each physician should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Other health care professionals are awarded (0.075) continuing education units (CEU) which are equivalent to .75 contact hour.

For your credit transcript, please access our website 4 weeks post-completion at http://ccehs.upmc.edu and follow the link to the Credit Transcript page. If you do not provide the last 5 digits of your SSN on the next page you will not be able to access a CME credit transcript. Providing your SSN is voluntary.

Release Date: 5/10/2014 | Last Modified On: 5/10/2014 | Expires: 5/9/2015