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Published on: February 26, 2013
Patient time requirements for anticoagulation therapy with warfarin
Daniel E Jonas1, Betsy Bryant Shilliday, W Russell Laundon
1Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA. daniel_jonas@med.unc.edu
Summary
Managing warfarin therapy requires significant patient time, averaging 2.5 hours per visit and nearly 40 hours annually. Exploring home-based testing could reduce patient time and associated costs.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Health Services Research
- Patient-Reported Outcomes
Background:
- Warfarin management typically occurs in outpatient settings or anticoagulation clinics.
- These settings necessitate frequent patient visits for monitoring purposes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the time commitment for patients undergoing chronic warfarin therapy.
- To assess the economic value of patient time dedicated to anticoagulation management.
Main Methods:
- Prospective observation of adult patients in a university anticoagulation program.
- Data collection via questionnaires, prospective diaries, and medical record review.
- Estimation of time value using the human capital method.
Main Results:
- Patients spent an average of 147 minutes per anticoagulation clinic visit.
- Annual time commitment averaged 39 hours for visits and an additional 52.7 hours for related activities.
- The estimated annual value of patient time ranged from $591 to $1132 (median).
Conclusions:
- Anticoagulation therapy with warfarin imposes a substantial time burden on patients.
- Reducing patient time requirements, potentially through home-based testing, could yield significant cost savings.
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