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Background: India has recently introduced telemedicine initiatives to enhance access to specialized care at a low cost for the pediatric HIV patients, who face multiple challenges due to growing disease burden and limited preparedness of the health system to address it. There are limited evidences on the cost-effectiveness of these interventions. This study was undertaken in Maharashtra, a province, located in the western region of the country, to inform policy regarding the effectiveness of this programme. The objective was to estimate the unit cost of ART services for pediatric HIV patients and examine the efficiency in the use of resource and treatment compliance resulting from telemedicine initiatives in pediatric HIV compared to usual ART services. Methods: We selected 6 ART centers (3 from linked centers linked to Pediatric HIV Centre of Excellence (PCoE) and 3 from non-linked centers) randomly from three high, middle and low ART centers, categorized on the basis of case load in each arm. A bottom up costing methodology was adopted to understand the unit cost of services. Loss to follow up and timeliness of the visits were compared between the two arms and were linked to the cost. Results: The average cost per-visit was INR 1803 in the linked centers and that for the non-linked centers was INR 3412. There has been 5 percentage point improvement in lost to follow-up in the linked centers compared to non-linked centers against a back-drop of a reduction in per-pediatric patient cost of INR 557. The linkage has resulted in increase in timeliness of the visits in linked centers compared to non-linked centers. Discussion and conclusion: The telemedicine linkage led to an increase in the case load leading to a decrease in cost. The evidence on efficiency in the use of resource and improvement in treatment compliance as suggested by this study could be used to scale up this initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) for any illness is still a major problem in India. Several evidence is available regarding growing OOPE and its impact on household poverty. However, limited evidence is there regarding OOPE on multiple disease conditions in public hospitals. Aim: To estimate the OOPE for various hospitalized conditions at the secondary level of care in Odisha and find out various financial coping mechanisms adopted by the patients. Methods: The primary survey was done in the secondary care hospitals in the two districts of Odisha using a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were collected from 284 subjects (212 males, 72 females) in 2014 on the socioeconomic status and OOPE on multiple disease conditions. Descriptive statistics using Stata Version 11 were used to estimate the results. Results: The mean total OOPE was Indian Rupees (INR) 2107 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1788-2426) for single episode of hospitalization out of which medical expenditure was INR 1530 (95% CI: 1238-1821) and nonmedical expenditure was INR 577 (95% CI: 501-653). The OOPE on surgical conditions was 1.7 times more than the nonsurgical conditions. Drugs and diagnostics were the major components of hospital expenditure, whereas the share of transportation expenditure was more in the nonmedical expenditure. Further, most of the patients had to face hardship financing due to limited financial protection measures. Conclusions: With the growing debate on the rolling out of universal health insurance scheme in India, this study assumes significance by providing critical information for designing public financing strategies to protect the interest of the poor in public health care institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The main objective of this review is to summarize the evidence on the core modelling specifications and methodology on the cost-effectiveness of TKR compared to non-surgical management. Another objective of this study is to synthesize evidence of TKR cost and compare it across countries using purchasing power parity (PPP). Methodology: The electronic databases used for this review were MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), HTAIn repository, Cost effectiveness Analysis (CEA) registry, and Google Scholar. Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) was used to assess the validity of the methods and transparency in reporting the results. The Quality of Health Economic Studies (QHES) was used to check the quality of economic evaluation models of the studies included. The cost of TKR surgery from high income and low- or middle-income countries were extracted and converted to single USD ($) using purchasing power parities (PPP) method. Result: Thirty-two studies were included in this review, out of which eight studies used Markov model, five used regression model, one each reported Marginal structure model, discrete simulation model, decision tree and Osteoarthritis Policy Model (OAPol) respectively to assess the cost-effectiveness of TKR. For PPP, twenty-six studies were included in the analysis of TKR cost. The average cost of TKR surgery was the lowest in developing country—India ($3457) and highest in USA ($19568). Conclusion: The findings of this review showed that the Markov model was most widely used in the analysis of the cost effectiveness of TKR. Our review also concluded that the cost of TKR was higher in the developed countries as compared to the developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caste, a stratifying axis of the Indian society, is associated with wealth and health. However, to what extent caste‐based health inequality is explained by wealth disparities, is not clear. Therefore, we aimed to examine the caste‐based differences in anaemia (haemoglobin < 11 gm/dl) and self‐reported sickness absenteeism in schoolchildren and the mediating role of economic disparity. Students (n = 1764) were surveyed from 54 government schools of Dhenkanal and Angul, Odisha state. Socioeconomic data, anaemia and absenteeism were recorded. The relative risks of anaemia among Scheduled Tribe (least advantaged) and Scheduled Caste (second least advantaged) students were 1.19 (95% CI: 1.08, 1.26) and 1.13 (1.03, 1.20), respectively, as compared to students of the most advantaged caste and that for sickness absenteeism were 2.78 (2.03, 3.82) and 2.84 (2.13, 3.78); p < 0.05, with marginal attenuation when controlled for inter‐caste economic disparities. Caste had an independent effect on anaemia and sickness absenteeism in school children, unexplained by inter‐caste economic disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The burden of diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing in India and across states. Given the chronic and progressive nature of the disease, it implicates huge financial burden on patients. Given this, the objectives of this study are to estimate the out‑of‑pocket (OOP) expenditure on diabetes care and assess the magnitude of medication adherence among patients in a public hospital. Materials and Methods: A cross‑sectional survey was conducted among 206 patients with age ≥25 years visiting the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Odisha. Cost data were collected from April to June 2016 using a structured questionnaire, and drug adherence was assessed using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Results: The average total expenditure per patient per month was INR 1265 (95% confidence interval 1178–1351), of which medical expenditure was INR 993 (95 confidence interval 912–1075) and that of nonmedical expenditure was INR 271 (95 confidence interval 251–292). Expenditure on medicine constituted around 65% of total medical expenditure. The other drivers of medical expenditure were diagnostics services constituting 13.2% and transportation (11.8%). Overall, only 15% of the patients reported high adherence to medication. Discussion: This study generated evidence on OOP expenditure on diabetics in Odisha which are comparable to many Indian studies. One of the critical findings of this study was that a majority of patients visiting public hospitals had to spend OOP on medicine and diagnostic services. These findings could be used to design appropriate financing strategies to protect the interest of the poor who largely use public health facility in Odisha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]