Cost-Utility Analysis of a Medication Adherence-Enhancing Educational Intervention for Glaucoma

To evaluate the cost utility of a glaucoma medication-enhancing intervention compared to standard of care over a lifetime from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) payer perspective.

Model-based cost-utility analysis of a glaucoma medication-enhancing intervention from a randomized clinical trial.

Veterans with glaucoma, or suspected glaucoma who were prescribed topical glaucoma medications, had their visual field assessed within the last 9 months, and endorsed poor glaucoma medication adherence.

Veterans were randomized either to a behavioral intervention to promote adherence or to a standard of care (control) session about general eye health. A decision analytic model was developed to simulate lifelong costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for an intervention tested in a randomized clinical trial at a single VA eye clinic. Costs included direct medical costs that the VA payer would incur, as informed initially by the clinical trial and then by published estimates. Health-state quality of life was based on published utility values. Scenario analyses included addition of booster interventions, a 3% decline in chance of staying medication adherent annually, and the combination of the two. Analyses were also conducted in the following subgroups: those with companion versus not, and those with once-daily versus more than once-daily dosing frequency.

Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER).

Compared to standard of care, the intervention dominated resulting in lower costs ($23 339.28 versus $23 504.02) and higher QALYs (11.62 versus 11.58). Among the 4 subgroups, the intervention dominated for 3 of them. In the fourth subgroup, those with more than once-daily dosing, the ICER was $2625/QALY. Compared to standard of care, an intervention with booster interventions led to an ICER of $3278/QALY. Assuming both a 3% annual loss in chance of continuing to be adherent and addition of booster interventions, the ICER increased to $71 371/QALY.

From a VA payer perspective over a lifetime, the glaucoma medication-enhancing behavioral intervention dominated standard of care in terms of generating cost savings and greater QALYs.

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