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Wednesday, August 17, 2005The chickenpox vaccine is dramatically reducing the need for medical care for the disease, and it's saving millions of health-care dollars, too. Those are the conclusions of a new study in the Aug. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, which found direct medical expenses for people with chickenpox dropped to $49.1 million in 2002, down from an average of $201.8 million in 1994, a year before the vaccine was available. But, that's not what the study says. Hospitalizations for chickenpox declined from 2.3 per 100,000 to 0.3 per 100,000. That could be described as dramatic, although we're talking about small numbers to begin with. In 1994/1995, before the vaccine was widely adopted, chickenpox-related hospitalizations and doctor visits cost $84.9 million. In 2002, after the vaccine was adopted, the cost was $22.1 million, a savings of $62.8 million a year. So, how much does it cost a year to give the vaccine? The researchers estimate $144 million. From a strictly economic perspective, it would appear to be a loser. The larger numbers that the story quotes - costs of $116.9 million before vaccination, down to $27 million after vaccination is for visits to doctors and hospitals in which "any varicella diagnosis code" was mentioned. It might not have had anything to do in those cases with the reason for the visit. It's the more liberal estimate, and one that the authors chose not to concentrate on as it was less specific. The news stories, however, chose to concentrate on it. UPDATE: Trent McBride says I should have said financial perspective, not economic. posted by Sydney on 8/17/2005 08:55:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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