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Medline, Embase and grey literature sources were searched for economic evaluations comparing population-based testing strategies with no testing or risk-based testing in the general population. Compared with no testing or risk-based testing, 88% (14/16) of the cost-utility analyses found birth cohort testing cost effective, 89% (8/9) of analyses found universal testing cost effective, and 100% (8/8) of analyses found age-based general population testing cost effective. [Extracted from the article]

A review of the cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) literature has found that only around 25% of the major pre-market approved (PMA) device categories have published cost-effectiveness evidence available through PubMed, however, the researchers note that of those with data available, the devices generally offer good value for money according to commonly used cost-effectiveness thresholds. There was at least one cost-utility or comparative-effectiveness study for 88 (16%) of non-cosmetic medical devices approved by the US FDA in the study time frame, and >=1 device across 53 (26.2%) generic categories. The study, published in I Applied Health Economics and Health Policy i , searched PubMed for research reporting the incremental costs and incremental quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gains versus previously-available treatment of PMA devices approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (1999-2015). [Extracted from the article]

The trial included patients from 150 primary-care practices in the UK who were taking oral antidepressants (citalopram, fluoxetine, mirtazapine or sertraline) for at least 9 months and were well enough to consider stopping medication. Discontinuation of antidepressants is unlikely to be cost effective compared with maintenance, according to a cost-utility analysis (CUA) based on a randomised controlled trial conducted in the UK. [Extracted from the article]

Deterministic sensitivity analyses found that the costs of disease management had an impact on results: minimum values generated lower cost savings and a longer break-even point in time (BPT), whereas maximum values of disease management costs generated higher cost savings and a shorter BPT. Anti-HCV therapy worth it in Italy, with initial investment costs recouped after around 4 years An analysis published in I Applied Health Economics and Health Policy i has found that treating newly-diagnosed hepatitis-C virus (HCV) patients would significantly reduce costly disease complications, with initial investment costs recouped within 4.3 years and "in the worst hypothesis, according to the results of the PSA [probabilistic sensitivity analysis], the return of investments is expected 8 years after successful treatment", say the authors. [Extracted from the article]

Although more than 88% of US people say they accept COVID-19 vaccination, 14% say they would only get vaccinated with compensation - payments of at least $US500 would be required to get 50% of these people to accept being vaccinated, according to research published in I Applied Health Economics and Health Policy i . Sixty percent of the participants said they were willing to pay a positive amount for the vaccine; 13.7% said they would only accept free vaccination; 14.1% were willing to take the vaccine only if they were paid; and 12.2% would not accept the vaccine at all. The authors note that data collection for the study was conducted after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency authorisation for the Pfizer-BioNTech (11 December 2020) and Moderna (13 December 2020) vaccines at a time when the USA had what was then the largest number of daily cases and deaths. [Extracted from the article]

As part of the Broader Value of Vaccines (BRAVE) Initiative, a panel of experts have found that many of the health technology assessments (HTAs) from nine high-income countries do not consistently consider or include broader value elements relevant to vaccines; future efforts should seek to include high-quality evidence, further develop existing methodological and analytic expertise, and ensure stakeholder engagement. The review of current economic analyses found that 6 of the 12 value elements relevant to vaccines were not regularly or consistently considered in the HTA processes of multiple high-income countries[1]. [Extracted from the article]

The findings were robust to changes in a range of input parameters; however, "the probability that user testing is cost-effective and cost-saving is reduced for lower risk medicines, but is still 71% and 80% (respectively), as user-testing is a low-cost intervention" point out the authors. User-testing injectable medicines guidelines for nurses appears to reduce the number of medication errors when giving intravenous medicines to hospitalised patients, and therefore "the cost of the user-testing process is likely to be outweighed by the increased health of patients and reduced health service costs for treating the harm caused by medication errors", say the UK-based authors of a study published in I Applied Health Economics and Health Policy i . [Extracted from the article]