Cost-effectiveness of Compression Therapy With Early Endovenous Ablation in Venous Ulceration for a Medicare Population

Key Points

Question  What is the cost-effectiveness of early intervention of endovenous ablation for patients with venous leg ulcerations (VLUs) from the Medicare perspective?

Findings  In this economic evaluation, early ablation dominated, with a lower per patient cost of $12 527 and an increase of 2.011 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), whereas compression therapy with deferred ablation yielded a per patient cost of $15 208 and 1.985 QALYs gained from the Medicare perspective over a 3-year time horizon.

Meaning  In this study, compression therapy with early endovenous ablation was the dominant strategy, as it was cost saving and generated more QALYs over a 3-year time horizon from the US Medicare perspective.

Abstract

Importance  Venous leg ulcers (VLU) are the most common cause of lower extremity ulceration that commonly occur among older individuals and are characterized by a slow healing trajectory and frequent recurrence; in the United States, VLUs affect more than 600 000 people per year with an estimated cost of $3.5 billion. Clinical trial data show that early intervention with endovenous ablation substantially improves the healing rate and reduces recurrence among patients with VLUs, but there is a need to assess the cost-effectiveness of early endovenous ablation in the US context.

Objectives  To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of early endovenous ablation of superficial venous reflux in patients with VLU from the US Medicare perspective.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This economic evaluation used a Markov model to simulate the disease progression of VLU for patients receiving compression therapy with early vs deferred ablation over 3 years. The simulated cohort included patients with VLU aged 65 years and older who had clinical characteristics similar to those in the randomized Early Venous Reflux Ablation trial in the United Kingdom. Data were analyzed from September 2021 to June 2022.

Main Outcomes and Measures  Direct medical costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and the incremental monetary benefits at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100 000/QALY. Univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to test uncertainty of model results.

Results  This model used a simulated cohort of patients with VLU aged 65 years and older enrolled in Medicare. Early ablation dominated, with a lower per-patient cost of $12 527 and an increase of 2.011 QALYs, whereas compression therapy with deferred ablation yielded a per-patient cost of $15 208 and 1.985 QALYs gained. At a $100 000/QALY cost-effectiveness threshold, the incremental net monetary benefit was $5226 per patient in favor of early ablation. Probability of healing, followed by the probability of recurrence, was the parameter with greatest impact on model uncertainty. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed that early ablation was cost-effective in 59.2% of simulations at the $100 000/QALY threshold.

Conclusions and Relevance  In this economic evaluation of compression therapy with early endovenous ablation, early intervention was dominant, as it was cost saving and generated greater QALYs over 3 years from the US Medicare perspective. Payers should prioritize coverage for early ablation to prevent VLU complications rather than treat a costly outcome that also reduces patient well-being.

The full study can be viewed at JAMA Network Open.

Zheng, H., Magee, G. A., Tan, T. W., Armstrong, D. G., & Padula, W. V. (2022). Cost-effectiveness of Compression Therapy With Early Endovenous Ablation in Venous Ulceration for a Medicare Population. JAMA Network Open, 5(12), e2248152-e2248152.