Biomedical subjects
P Fenn
Publications and source records attributed to P Fenn.
Alzheimer's disease: the burden of the illness in England.
This paper reports the findings of a study that estimated the socioeconomic costs, both direct and indirect, of Alzheimer's Disease in England by using a 'burden of illness' framework. The burden of illness was calculated for all main areas of provision: hospital and residential care, general practice, day care, home care and informal care, including the calculations of costs by age-group and by service provider. The results show that the cost of this care amounted to around 1,039m pounds in 1990/91, establishing that spending associated with Alzheimer's Disease is a major area of care expenditure. Such burden of illness data should help those involved with health care decision-making, planning and priority setting, especially for health districts and social services establishing base plans for care in the community.
The cost-effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy following acute myocardial infarction.
The increasing use of thrombolytic therapy following acute myocardial infarction has given rise to value for money questions. This study examines the cost-effectiveness of the thrombolytic agent anistreplase (Eminase). Using clinical trial data on the efficacy of anistreplase compared to placebo, and retrospectively obtained cost data from the National Health Service, the study estimates the cost per life-year saved of using this therapeutic agent. The results suggest that the cost-effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy compares favourably with that of other forms of coronary disease treatment. The study concludes that comparisons of the relative cost-effectiveness of different thrombolytic agents are an obvious next step, once full results from recent clinical trials are available.
Variations in length of stay. A conditional likelihood approach.
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Defence subscriptions for general practitioners.
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Medical malpractice claims in obstetrics and gynaecology: comparisons between the United States and Britain.
Obstetricians and gynaecologists have been particularly affected by the increase in the cost and number of medical malpractice claims in Britain. US obstetricians and gynaecologists have experienced a disproportionately higher rate of claim than other practitioners in that country. This article reviews the US experience of obstetrics and gynaecology malpractice claims and questions the validity of showing comparisons between the US and UK. However, even if British malpractice claims do not reach the level of American claims, the effects of claims on the National Health Service, recruitment to obstetrics and gynaecology, and clinical practice are significant.
Medical malpractice in perspective. II--The implications for Britain.
The "malpractice crisis" in the United States cannot be understood in isolation. Litigation is precipitated by features of the American health care and social security systems. Relative to the United Kingdom, there are fewer barriers of access to the courts, although the role of contingency fees has probably been exaggerated. Given the great institutional differences between the UK and the USA, the crisis seems unlikely to be replicated here unless there are further moves towards privatising both the costs of providing health care and the costs of its failures. It is concluded that a marginal change in the frequency or average cost of claims could have a serious impact on National Health Service resources, the medical defence societies, recruitment to specialties, and clinical practice. Debate over possible reforms is compromised by the dearth of good empirical data. Any changes, however, must address both the deterrence of bad practice and the compensation of injured patients.
Medical malpractice in perspective. I--The American experience.
Concern over the possibility of an American style medical malpractice "crisis" in the United Kingdom has recently been voiced by members of both medical and legal professions. The validity of such fears is examined by reviewing the conditions that have given rise to the current American difficulties. It is argued that the rise in malpractice insurance premiums and associated restrictions in availability should be seen against the background of underwriting problems specific to medical liability in conjunction with a general decline in reinsurance cover. The evidence in relation to the clinical and resource implications of malpractice is analysed. In particular, arguments that increased litigation has influenced the practice of "defensive" medicine and the choice of specialty are critically examined. Medical malpractice claims and insurance are only part of a professional environment which is undergoing dramatic social and economic changes, many of which seem more plausible candidates to be treated as important influences on the nature and organisation of health care in the United States.
The optimal stock of health with endogenous wages. Application to partial disability compensation.
The optimal quantity of health is examined in the framework of a model which posits that health capital will influence earning capacity in addition to the supply of labor. Utilizing data from the Survey of Disabled and Nondisabled Adults, eight health capital variables are tested in models of hourly wages, labor supply and yearly earnings. The results for three of the health capital variables are then compared to their evaluation by the American Medical Association and by the New York State Workers' Compensation program.
Trying to do better than average: a commentary on 'statistical inference for cost-effectiveness ratios'.
In a recent paper, Laska, Meisner and Siegel address issues concerning hypothesis testing in cost-effectiveness analysis. They relate the relative magnitude of two average cost-effectiveness ratios to the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio and go on to propose a statistical procedure for testing the equality of two average ratios. In this paper, we show why the use of average cost-effectiveness ratios is misleading and argue that the appropriate focus for cost-effectiveness analysis is the estimation of confidence intervals around incremental cost-effectiveness ratios.
The excess cost of acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis in patients aged 45 and older in England and Wales.
INTRODUCTION: Chronic Bronchitis is a serious and costly health problem. Prevalence is estimated at 45 per 10,000 persons in the United Kingdom. Approximately 120,000 Pounds would be saved for every 100 hospital admissions avoided. A reduction in acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECB), treatment failures, and subsequent hospital admission could have a significant impact on the burden of AECB borne by secondary care facilities in the UK National Health Service (NHS). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to provide an economic assessment of the direct cost to the health care system associated with the management of chronic bronchitis and its acute exacerbations. DESIGN: A prevalence-based, excess-cost-of-illness analysis is undertaken from the perspective of the UK NHS. Disease prevalence data, primary health care resource utilization, hospital inpatient and outpatient resource utilization, and costs of health care were taken from a variety of data sources, including a large UK national survey of general practice (GP) consultations, the General Practice Research Database, a survey from a single NHS hospital trust, and the national health-care resource and cost statistics. RESULTS: From 1994 to 1995, approximately 233,000 cases of chronic bronchitis were detected in the persons aged 45 and older in the United Kingdom. Prevalence peaked at 204 per 10,000 in the group of subjects aged 75 to 84 years. During that same period, the total excess cost of primary care associated with AECB was calculated at 35.7 million Pounds. The largest component of primary care costs was the excess cost of all prescription medicines, which totaled 27.8 million Pounds. The excess cost attributed to antibacterial and respiratory prescription medications alone was estimated at 9 million Pounds. Excess costs attributed to GP consultations and hospital emergency room visits were 6.5 million Pounds and 1.3 million Pounds, respectively. The excess costs arising from inpatient hospital episodes included 8.3 million Pounds for hospital admissions, 660,000 Pounds for outpatient costs, and 225,000 Pounds for day care. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that improving the management of AECB with the objective of reducing the number of AECB treatment failures and the associated hospital admissions could significantly reduce expenditures by the UK NHS.