Real-world healthcare resource utilization amongst non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients tested with a host immune classifier (HIC).

Abstract

e21210 Background: The HIC is a blood-based proteomic test that measures immune response in patients with NSCLC. The test stratifies patients into two groups, HIC-H and HIC-C which helps evaluate patient prognosis and response to treatment. While clinical validity of the HIC test has been published, no real-world studies have described healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) amongst patients who have been tested with the HIC. This claims analysis describes HCRU amongst patients with NSCLC tested with the HIC. Methods: MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases linked to Biodesix data files of HIC test results were retrospectively queried to identify patients who were age 18 and older on index date (date of HIC testing), underwent a HIC proteomic test, were continuously enrolled in the MarketScan database for the 6-months before index (pre-index period) and one month post-index, and had at least one non-diagnostic medical claim of lung cancer during the pre-index period. Data utilized was between January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2021. HCRU was measured per patient per month (PPPM) during the pre-index and post-index period and compared between HIC-H and HIC-C cohorts. Results: Of the 328 included patients, 260 patients were HIC-H and 68 were HIC-C. On index, 178 patients had non-metastatic lung cancer and 150 patients had metastatic lung cancer. When examining HCRU in all patients prior to the HIC test, significantly more HIC-C patients had an outpatient visit with an oncologist (40% vs 27%, P < 0.05) or a primary care physician (71% vs 56%, P < 0.05). When assessing only patients with metastatic lung cancer prior to index, significantly more HIC-C patients had inpatient admissions (57% vs 37%, P < 0.05) and more outpatient visits with a primary care physician (73% vs 50%, P < 0.05). When examining HCRU in patients after the HIC test, metastatic patients had significantly more prescriptions (4.6 vs 3.6, P < 0.05). Metastatic HIC-H patients also had significantly more visits to the emergency room (64% vs 43%, P < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients who are identified as HIC-C tend to have higher HCRU earlier in their lung cancer diagnosis and treatment course (prior to HIC testing). In the post-index period, metastatic HIC-H patients had higher HCRU with respect to prescriptions and emergency visits. Other post-index HCRU metrics such as primary care utilization and inpatient admissions were similar among HIC-C and HIC-H patients. Earlier identification of HIC-C and HIC-H patients may help identify those most likely to benefit from additional health system navigation support.