|
|
MEDS-ALERT and Chronic Disease Management
Cancer-Diabetes-Transplants-HIV/AIDS-Asthma-
Cardiovascular Disease-Arthritis-Nursing Home Patients
|
The MEDS-ALERT system will be invaluable for any patient who has a disease state which is medication intensive. The system will be particularly useful for those patients who have a limited mobility or are home-bound. Looking at the cost of medication errors, issues of patient noncompliance, and looking at the potential patient populations that may benefit from the system will demonstrate the potential impact of the Meds Alert. These are discussed below.
Impact on Overall Costs
Preventing 10% of adverse drug events in an ambulatory patient population would reduce overall health care expenditures by nearly $18 billion dollars each year. Thus, the incremental benefit of appropriate use of medications in the ambulatory sector makes the Meds Alert system economically viable.
The MEDS-ALERT system will be beneficial to patients who have a disease that is medication-intensive and who need assistance in taking or monitoring their medications. Disease states that fit this model are described below in terms of their prevalence in the United States.
|
Cancer
Cancer is a broad terms used to describe a wide variety of specific diseases. The term is often associated with a medication-intensive treatment course and complications from the disease. Today, cancer is the second leading cause of death among Americans. In America, one out of every 4 deaths is due to cancer. In 2002, 1,284,900 Americans will be diagnosed with cancer, and 555,500 Americans will die from it. The number of Americans diagnosed with cancer is expected to double in the next 50 years to 2.6 million per year. This is primarily due to the growth and aging of the population. The results of cancer chemotherapy have been astounding. Currently 8.9 million Americans are now alive with a history of cancer.
The costs to society for cancer are estimated to be $171.6 billion per year. This includes $60.9 billion in direct medical expenses. These dollars are expected to rise as the incidence of cancer grows and the treatments involve complicated and expensive biotechnology agents. These agents will move the care from the inpatient setting to the home or clinic setting, and technology to close the gap between the home will be of great value.
Diabetes
People with diabetes have a shortage of insulin or a reduced ability to use insulin. Patients with diabetes are required to monitor their blood sugar and take medications everyday for the rest of their lives. Nearly 16 million Americans suffer from diabetes. However, only 10 million people have been diagnosed with the disease. There are 798,000 new cases annually. Diabetes is responsible for around 200,000 deaths annually, making it the seventh leading cause of death in the US.
Patients with diabetes are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke, HBP, and nerve damage. Diabetes causes 12,000 to 24,000 people to go blind each year. Additionally, diabetes is blamed for 38,000 kidney failures and 82,000 amputations each year.
Diabetes is estimated to cost $100 billion a year (direct and indirect costs). The average cost to treat a patient with diabetes was $10,071 in 1997, while only costing $2,699 for a person without diabetes. Any improvement in glucose control and medication use can improve the economic, clinical and humanistic outcomes of diabetes.
|
Transplants
Transplantation of human organs has moved from the experimental into the treatment arsenal of health care. Today, we can transplant hearts, intestines, kidneys, lungs, livers, and pancreata. It is estimated that 56 people receive a transplant each day. Thus, in 2002, there were 23,000 transplants. The issue of transplants is not going away, with more than 80,000 currently on transplant waiting lists. Every 16 minutes, a new name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.
The transplant procedure itself is very expensive. However, the patient must then take very expensive drugs that often have a narrow therapeutic range. Without the immunosuppressive agents, the patient could lose the transplanted organ and either die or require expensive health care services, including re-transplantation.
HIV/AIDS
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is still a major health concern in the United States. In December 2000, there were 800,000 to 900,000 people living with HIV in the US. This figure grows by 40,000 new HIV infections per year.
Introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996 has changed treatment. People are now living longer due to the use of medications, and this population is a prime target for a medication use technology such as the Meds Alert system.
|
Asthma
Asthma is a reactive airway disease that restricts the patient’s ability to breath normally. The common treatment is the use of inhaled medications on a daily basis, for the rest of the patient’s life. In the United States, it is estimated that 10 million adults and 5 million children have asthma.
If asthma is not controlled well, the patient will require added health care services. In 1998, 10.6 million people experienced an asthma attack. The result was 14 million outpatient visits, 2 million ER visits, and 500,000 hospitalizations and nearly 5500 deaths. The use of these services costs approximately 14.5 billion dollars a year to treat asthma.
Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes heart disease and stroke. Today, nearly 57 million Americans have some form of CVD. CVD takes a large toll on the morbidity and mortality of patients. Each year an estimated 950,000 Americans die from CVD (about 40% of all deaths). Heart disease and stroke and the 1st and 3rd leading causes of death in the US. One American dies every 33 seconds from the disease.
The costs of CVD in the United States are substantial. It is estimated that the nation spends about $300 billion each year on direct and indirect costs to treat CVD. An estimated 6 million hospitalizations are a result of CVD each year.(30)
CVD can be reduced through better lifestyles and the use of medications. This is very evident in the elderly. Medications are of great value to control CVD patients’ cholesterol levels and blood pressure. An estimated 102 million Americans have cholesterol levels of 200 mg/dL and higher (the recommended level where treatment should begin to reduce the risk of complications). More alarming, 41.3 million of these patients are above 240 mg/dL. These high levels of cholesterol may increase the patient’s risk of heart disease, heart attack and the need for heart bypass surgery or angioplasty.
High blood pressure killed 44,997 Americans in 1999 and contributed to 227,000 other deaths. High blood pressure increases the patient’s risk of heart disease and stroke. An estimated one in four Americans has HBP. Among African-Americans, the number is greater, with 1 in 3 having hypertension.
|
Arthritis
Arthritis is a term that encompasses more than 100 diseases. Approximately 43 million Americans, nearly 1 in 6, have arthritis. By 2020 (as Baby Boomers pass age 65) this will go to 60 million. Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in America, and limits the daily activities of nearly 7 million Americans. Arthritis is the primary cause of more than 500,000 hospitalizations a year. The costs to treat arthritis exceed $65 billion dollars annually, and improvements in care may reduce this burden to society.
Nursing Home Patients
There are nearly 1.7 million people currently in nursing homes in this country. Many patients are in nursing homes because they cannot manage their care in the home setting. The cost of a nursing home can vary from $100-$300 per day, which equates to $36,500-$109,500 per year per patients. It is estimated that we spend $72 billion dollars on nursing home care in the United States each year.
The MEDS-ALERT system has a great potential to reduce the number of nursing home patients by allowing patients to care for themselves in the comfort and privacy of their own home. The system will communicate with the patient and alert them when a medication is due. It will also tell the patient if they are taking the wrong medication or the wrong dose of a medication.
NOTE: References and sources for the above-mentioned statistics are available by contacting MEDS-ALERT USA, Inc.
|
|
|
|
 |
