Australian Schizophrenia Care and Assessment Programme: Real-World Schizophrenia: Economics

Abstract

Considerable resources are required for the provision of treatment for patients with schizophrenia. But for the majority of people in this cohort, funding assertive treatment programmes and measures to reduce hospitalization was accompanied with enhanced functioning and quality of life, as well as a reduction in long-term societal and government costs. The distribution of health-care costs is highly skewed, with a relatively small proportion of patients (39%) consuming the majority of resources (80%). Improving rates of employment for this patient group could hold substantial benefits in reducing the overall economic and personal impact of this disorder.

Compliance, persistence, costs and quality of life in young patients treated with antipsychotic drugs: results from the COMETA study

“…However, it must be noted that the data available in the literature refer to different populations from different countries, where different treatment modalities could be applied, or different unit costs are applicable, or which include older patients than those involved in our study [6-11,13-15,51,52]. In our study, medical costs during the follow up period remained stable overall.…”

“…This amounted to 16% of all admissions and 34% of all bed days related to psychiatric inpatient care [12]. Among the total direct costs, hospitalizations can account for up to 94% [6], while drugs generate lower costs (between 2 and 13%) [6,13,14]. A considerable contribution to the cost to society comes from the indirect costs (i.e., productivity losses), because of employment difficulties, high early mortality rate and patients’ families loss of productivity.…”

“…A considerable contribution to the cost to society comes from the indirect costs (i.e., productivity losses), because of employment difficulties, high early mortality rate and patients’ families loss of productivity. According to some authors, schizophrenia-related indirect costs account for approximately half of the total cost of illness [6,9,10,13-15]. In the United Kingdom, it has been estimated that indirect costs are four times higher than direct costs [16].…”

Assessment of Psychiatric Outcomes in Japan Based on Diagnostic Procedure Combination Information

“…Diagnostic-related groups (DRGs) have been utilized to evaluate health care costs in Spain [7]. In Australia and Germany, Fitzgerald [8] and Schreyögg et al,[9] respectively, used DRGs to assess costs. No previous studies have used DRGs to predict health care costs.…”

The cost associated with administering risperidone long-acting injections in the Australian community

“…Any economic evaluation of these new products must therefore consider not only the value of the resource savings per injection no longer required, but also the net impact upon the overall workload of mental health care staff. In Australia, it has been reported that the annual cost of schizophrenia to the public health system is $841 million [4], or approximately $17,000 per patient [4,5]; literature searches though did not identify any published estimates of the resource use and non-medication costs attributable to the administration of an antipsychotic either in Australia or internationally. The Australian Department of Health and Ageing has estimated the national average cost 'per occasion of service' in outpatient psychiatric clinics of public hospitals to be $276 [6], but these visits encompass a broader range of services including general case management and evaluation and do not include allowance for mobile outreach visits.…”