Cost-Effectiveness of Expanded Newborn Screening in Texas

Abstract

ObjectiveTexas House Bill 790 resulted in the expansion of the newborn screening panel from 7 disorders to 27 disorders. Implementation of this change began in 2007. The objective of this study was to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness of the expanded newborn screening program compared with the previous standard screening in Texas. MethodsA Markov model (for a hypothetical cohort of Texas births in 2007) was constructed to compare lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) between the expanded newborn screening and preexpansion newborn screening. Estimates of costs, probabilities of sequelae, and utilities for disorder categories were obtained from a combination of Texas statistics, the literature, and expert opinion. A baseline discount rate of 3% was used for both costs and QALYs, with a range of 0% to 5%. Analyses were conducted from a payer's perspective, and so only direct medical cost estimates were included. ResultsThe lifetime incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for expanded versus preexpansion screening was about $11,560 per QALY. The results remained robust to both deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. ConclusionsExpanded newborn screening does result in additional expenses to the payer, but it also improves patient outcomes by preventing avoidable morbidity and mortality. The screened population benefits from greater QALYs as compared with the unscreened population. Overall, expanded newborn screening in Texas was estimated to be a cost-effective option as compared with unexpanded newborn screening.