Cost-effectiveness analysis of emergency department-based hepatitis C screening and linkage-to-care program

In the United States (US), hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening is not covered by payers in settings outside of primary care. A non-traditional, emergency department (ED)-based HCV screening program can be cost-effective and identify infection in vulnerable populations with a high HCV risk. This study examined the long-term cost-effectiveness of routine HCV screening and linkage-to-care for high-risk patients in the ED from the payer's perspective.

The University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System (UIH) implemented Project HEAL (HIV & HCV Screening, Education, Awareness, Linkage-to-Care). Under this initiative, patients who presented to the ED received opt-out HCV screening if they were at high risk for HCV infection (birth cohort between 1945 and 1964, persons who inject drugs, and HIV infection) with subsequent linkage-to-care if infected. Using the summary data from Project HEAL, a hybrid decision-analytic Markov model was developed based on the HCV screening procedure in the ED and the natural history of HCV. A 30-year time horizon and 1-year cycle length were used. All patients who received the ED-based HCV screening were referred for treatment with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regardless of their fibrosis stage.

When unscreened/untreated patients received DAA treatment at F1, F2, F3, and compensated cirrhosis stages, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) ranged from $6,084 to $77,063 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. When unscreened/untreated patients received DAA treatment at the decompensated cirrhosis stage, no HCV screening was dominated.

ED-based HCV screening and linkage-to-care was cost-effective at the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of $100,000/QALY in all scenarios. A reduction in infected persons in the community may provide additional benefits not evaluated in this study.