# Cost-utility analysis of transitional care services for older inpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Korea

## TL;DR

Transitional care services for older COPD patients in Korea improve health outcomes and save costs, especially for those over 70.

## Contribution

This study provides the first cost-utility analysis of transitional care services for COPD patients in Korea.

## Key findings

- Transitional care services saved costs and improved quality-adjusted life years for COPD patients aged 60s, 70s, and 80s.
- Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed over 85% probability of cost-effectiveness under $23,050 for patients in their 60s.
- TCS was dominant over usual care, particularly beneficial for patients over 70 with severe symptoms.

## Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a high readmission rate and poses a significant disease burden. South Korea initiated pilot projects on transitional care services (TCS) to reduce readmissions. However, evidence from cost-effectiveness analyses remains undiscovered. This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of TCS in patients with COPD from the healthcare system’ perspective.

A cost-utility analysis was conducted using a Markov model containing six components of possible medical use after discharge. Transition probabilities and medical costs were extracted from the National Health Insurance Service Senior Cohort (NHIS-SC), and utility data were obtained from published literature. Sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the results.

Conducting TCS produced an incremental quality-adjusted life years gain of 0.231, 0.275, 0.296 for those in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, respectively, and cost savings of $225.16, $1668, and $2251.64 for those in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, respectively, per patient over a 10-year time horizon. The deterministic sensitivity analysis indicated that the TCS cost and the cost of readmission by other diseases immensely impact the results. The probabilistic sensitivity analyses showed that the probability that the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is below $23,050 was over 85%, 93%, and 97% for those in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, respectively.

TCS was the dominant option compared to usual care. However, it is advantageous to the healthcare budget preferentially consider patients aged over 70 years with severe TCS symptoms. In addition, it is essential to include the management of underlying comorbidities in TCS intervention.

Clinical Research Information Service (CRIS), KCT0007937. Registered on 24 November 2022

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12962-024-00526-3.