Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Telemedicine to Evaluate Diabetic Retinopathy in a Prison Population
Open Access
- 1 May 2004
- journal article
- Published by American Diabetes Association in Diabetes Care
- Vol. 27 (5), 1095-1101
- https://doi.org/10.2337/diacare.27.5.1095
Abstract
OBJECTIVE—A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted to investigate the clinical and economic impact of teleophthalmology in evaluating diabetic retinopathy in prison inmates with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Based on a hypothetical teleophthalmology system to evaluate diabetic retinopathy patients with type 2 diabetes in a prison care setting, a Markov decision model was developed with probability and cost data derived primarily from published epidemiological and outcome studies. A 40-year-old African-American man with type 2 diabetes was used as a reference case subject. The number of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained was used as the clinical outcome, and the cost in U.S. dollars from the year 2003 was used as the economic outcome. Teleophthalmology and nonteleophthalmology strategies were compared using an expected QALYs calculation and two types of sensitivity analyses: probabilistic and traditional n-way sensitivity analyses. RESULTS—The teleophthalmology strategy dominates in the cost-effectiveness analysis for the reference case subject: $16,514/18.73 QALYs for teleophthalmology and $17,590/18.58 QALYs for nonteleophthalmology. Ninety percent of the Monte Carlo simulations showed cost effectiveness (annual cost/QALYs ≤$50,000) in the teleophthalmology strategy based on an assumed inmate population. Teleophthalmology is the better strategy if the number of diabetic inmates in the prison community is >500. CONCLUSIONS—Our cost-effectiveness analysis demonstrates that teleophthalmology holds great promise to reduce the cost of inmate care and reduce blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients.Keywords
This publication has 30 references indexed in Scilit:
- The sensitivity and specificity of single-field nonmydriatic monochromatic digital fundus photography with remote image interpretation for diabetic retinopathy screening: a comparison with ophthalmoscopy and standardized mydriatic color photographyAmerican Journal of Ophthalmology, 2002
- Clinical evaluation of patients with diabetic retinopathy: Accuracy of the inoveon diabetic retinopathy-3DT systemOphthalmology, 2002
- Reanalysis of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysm Management: Effect of a New International Study on the Threshold ProbabilitiesMedical Decision Making, 2001
- Reanalysis of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysm Management: Effect of a New International Study on the Threshold ProbabilitiesMedical Decision Making, 2001
- The 14-year incidence of visual loss in a diabetic population,Ophthalmology, 1998
- How effective are treatments for diabetic retinopathy?Published by American Medical Association (AMA) ,1993
- Cost-Effectiveness of the Screening and Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy:What Are the Costs of Underutilization?International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 1992
- Relation of ocular and systemic factors to survival in diabetesArchives of Internal Medicine, 1989
- Utility approach to measuring health-related quality of lifeJournal of Chronic Diseases, 1987
- Probabilistic Sensitivity Analysis Using Monte Carlo SimulationMedical Decision Making, 1985