Johannes Zsifkovits, Martin Zsifkovits and Stefan Pickl
Universit�¤t der Bundewehr M�¼nchen, Germany
Gesundheit Ã?Â?sterreich GmbH, Austria
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Health Med Informat
Due to the far-reaching outcomes consequences of policy decisions in the healthcare sector, decision-support tools are gaining more and more importance. Thereby, different modeling approaches are getting a more and more important methodological approach, as they come with major benefits for the decision maker. However, the adequate use of methods is of great importance for adequate results and following decisions. In 2014, a novel medication for treating Hepatitis C virus infections caused severe difficulties for European decision makers in the public medical sector. Even though new drugs cure Hepatitis C in nearly all cases, related costs in the short run are extremely high. Thus, the estimation of overall costs for the national healthcare systems was of great importance for profound far-reaching decisions on policies regarding the medication and their reimbursement. As this budget estimation is extremely difficult due to the complexity of the virus spread and the existence of further discomforts that lead to additional costs, a new microsimulation model was developed that considers the problem from an individual�s perspective and finally aggregates numbers on the macro level. While developing the model, general insights into the cost burden due to the new medication for the next three years were generated. Using our microsimulation model, decision makers are able to test for impact of one financial unit in several policies in order to maximize the overall benefit for the healthcare system. As initial results imply the need to change current reimbursement strategies in Europe, further research demand is discussed.
Journal of Health & Medical Informatics received 2700 citations as per Google Scholar report
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