Enhanced External Counterpulsation Is Cost-Effective in Reducing Hospital Costs in Refractory Angina Patients

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) is effective in the treatment of refractory angina, a condition suffered by 1.7 million Americans. Declining cardiovascular mortality and appropriate use criteria may further increase this number.

EECP is hypothesized to be cost-effective in reducing hospitalizations in refractory angina patients.

The data used in this analysis were collected in phase II of the International EECP Patient Registry (IEPR-II). Data were collected on changes in Canadian Cardiovascular Society functional class, Duke Activity Status Index, and number of hospitalizations in the 6 months prior to EECP and in the 6- and 12-month intervals following EECP. Estimates of the changes in annual cost of all-cause hospitalization before and after EECP therapy were calculated by the product of the differences in hospitalization rates in the 6-month interval before and after EECP treatment and estimated hospitalization and physician charges after subtracting the average cost of EECP.

Data for 1015 patients were analyzed. Hospitalization occurred in 55.2% of patients, an average of 1.7 ± 1.4 hospitalizations/patient, in the 6-month period before 35 hours of EECP; and in 24.4%, an average of 1.4 ± 1.0 hospitalizations/patient, during the 6- to 12-month period after EECP. The average hospitalization and physician charge in the US was $17,995, and the average EECP cost was $4880, yielding an annual cost savings/patient of $17,074.

Treatment of refractory angina patients with EECP resulted in improvement in angina and functional class accompanied by a sustained reduction in health care costs over 1 year of follow-up.