The budget impact of oral nutritional supplements for disease related malnutrition in elderly in the community setting.

Karen Freijer,Mark J C Nuijten,Jos M G A Schols

doi:10.3389/fphar.2012.00078

Abstract

A health economic analysis was performed to assess the economic impact on the national health care budget of using oral nutritional supplements (ONS), being a food for special medical purposes also known as medical nutrition, for the treatment of disease related malnutrition (DRM) in the community in the Netherlands. An economic model was developed to calculate the budget impact of using ONS in community dwelling elderly (>5 years) with DRM in the Netherlands. The model reflects the costs of DRM and the cost reductions resulting from improvement in DRM due to treatment with ONS. Using ONS for the treatment of DRM in community dwelling elderly, leads to a total annual cost savings of € 13 million (18.9% savings), when all eligible patients are treated. The additional costs of ONS (€ 57 million) are more than balanced by a reduction of other health care costs, e.g., re-/hospitalization (€ 70 million). Sensitivity analyses were performed on all parameters, including duration of treatment with ONS and the prevalence of DRM. This budget impact analysis shows that the use of ONS for treatment of DRM in elderly patients in the community may lead to cost savings in the Netherlands.

Highlights

Malnutrition is a prevalent problem, which is known for many years and is defined as a state of nutrition in which a deficiency, excess of energy, protein, and other nutrients causes measurable adverse effects on tissue/body form and function, and clinical outcome (Stratton et al, 2003)
Interventions used to manage disease related malnutrition (DRM) in the community setting in the Netherlands, may have a major impact on the national health care budget
An analysis was performed to assess the economic impact of the use of oral nutritional supplements (ONS) in community dwelling elderly patients (>65 years) with DRM, on the national health care budget in the Netherlands

Summary

Introduction

Malnutrition is a prevalent problem, which is known for many years and is defined as a state of nutrition in which a deficiency, excess (or imbalance) of energy, protein, and other nutrients causes measurable adverse effects on tissue/body form (body shape, size, and composition) and function, and clinical outcome (Stratton et al, 2003). Malnutrition includes both over-nutrition (overweight and obesity) and under-nutrition (insufficient nutrition). DRM adversely impacts on every organ system in the body with potentially serious consequences on a physical and psycho-social level that in turn contribute to increased morbidity and mortality (Elia and Russell, 2009)

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