Background
Prisoners have a high prevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV), but case-finding may not have been cost-effective because treatment often exceeded average prison stay combined with a lack of continuity-of-care. We assess the cost-effectiveness of increased HCV case-finding and treatment in UK prisons using short-course therapies.
Methods
A dynamic HCV transmission model assesses the cost-effectiveness of doubling HCV case-finding (achieved through introducing opt-out HCV testing in UK pilot prisons) and increasing treatment in UK prisons, compared to status-quo voluntary risk-based testing (6% prison entrants/year), using currently recommended therapies (8–24 weeks) or IFN-free DAAs (8–12 weeks, 95% SVR, £3300/wk). Costs (GBP£) and health utilities (quality-adjusted life-years, QALYs) were used to calculate mean incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). We assume 56% referral and 2.5%/25% of referred people who inject drugs (PWID)/exPWID treated within 2 months of diagnosis in prison. PWID and ex/nonPWID are in prison an average 4/8 months, respectively.
Results
Doubling prison testing rates with existing treatments produces a mean ICER of £19,850/QALY gained compared to current testing/treatment, and is 45% likely to be cost-effective under a £20,000 willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold. Switching to 8–12 week IFN-free DAAs in prisons could increase cost-effectiveness (ICER £15,090/QALY gained). Excluding prevention benefit decreases cost-effectiveness. If >10% referred PWID are treated in prison (2.5% base-case), either treatment could be highly cost-effective (ICER<£13,000). HCV case-finding and IFN-free DAAs could be highly cost-effective if DAA cost is 10% lower or 8 weeks duration.
Conclusions
Increased HCV testing in UK prisons (such as through opt-out testing) is borderline cost-effective compared to status-quo voluntary risk-based testing under a £20,000 WTP with current treatments, but likely to be cost-effective if short-course IFN-free DAAs are used, and could be highly cost-effective if PWID treatment rates were increased.
Introduction Use of hospital beds as pre/post procedure accommodation places a strain upon resources and risks 'on the day' cancellation. Nevertheless 'day case then home' may be a poor option for patients undergoing complex endoscopy who live many miles away. Our centre offers Near Hospital Accommodation (NHA) in a bespoke 35-roomed hotel 100 metres from the hospital at a cost of £120/night (versus £380 per inpatient bed). We aimed to assess the safety and utility of NHA for patients within our pancreatobiliary (PB) service. Methods We undertook a retrospective audit of all PB patients who stayed in the NHA from Jan '15 -Dec '17. Data collected from the endoscopy database and electronic records included: procedure type, distance travelled, type of hotel room, length of stay and unplanned post-procedural hospital admissions from the NHA. Results Over a 3 year period 152 patients stayed in NHA for 169 nights, ninety-three (61%) female with median age of 62 years (range 24-81). All patients underwent therapeutic ERCP, EUS, or cholangioscopy. The decision to use NHA was based upon case complexity and travel logistics. Most patients (89%) stayed one night and 11% stayed two nights (pre and postprocedure). Median one-way distance travelled was 107 miles (range 3-299 miles) (figure 1). The total cost of NHA was £23,660, saving £40 560 over the equivalent inpatient beds.
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