A Prospective Cost Analysis of Non-Myeloablative Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is an intensive medical therapy used to treat both malignant and non-malignant conditions. Non-myeloablative transplantation (NMT) is an emerging transplant modality often performed on an outpatient basis. While NMT is associated with fewer acute complications compared to myeloablative HSCT, long-term complications, particularly chronic graft vs host disease (GvHD), are of concern. To our knowledge, there have been few economic evaluations of NMT and none in a Canadian healthcare environment. We prospectively developed and validated a process for capturing the costs and outcomes of NMT in order to estimate the cost per patient of NMT at a Canadian transplant centre. Ten consecutive patients undergoing NMT were followed from the first day of conditioning (Day −11) until either 1 year post-transplant or death. Donor costs were also recorded. All patient encounters, procedures and interventions during the study period were prospectively recorded. Nursing and other non-physician human resource costs were calculated based on recorded contact times and salaries. Physician costs were derived from Nova Scotia fee codes. Costs of hospital admissions were derived from Ontario Case Costing Initiative (OCCI) data and were specific to the primary diagnosis. Drug costs were based on acquisition costs at hospital and community pharmacies. Materials and equipment costs were based on costs at the QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax NS. The proportion of administrative costs to direct costs was derived from OCCI data and applied to local direct costs. All costs are in 2005 Canadian dollars ($CAN). Ten patients were followed for a median of 12 months (range 3.6–12) from September 2003 to April 2005. Eight patients were male and the median age of the cohort was 60 years (19–73). Five patients had AML; 3 had lymphoma and 2 had multiple myeloma.Cyclophosphamide and fludarabine were used as conditioning and tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil were used as GvHD prophylaxis. There were 7 hospital admissions among the 10 patients: 3 before day 100 and 4 after day 100. Eight patients survived at least one year post-transplant. No patients developed acute GvHD, while all 8 patients surviving to 1 year post-transplant developed chronic GvHD. Three patients relapsed within 1 year. The average cost per NMT was $CAN 43,377 of which $CAN 31,761 were recipient costs, $CAN 2,562 were donor costs and $CAN 8,675 were equipment and overhead costs. The key cost driver was hospital admissions for complications and/or palliative care at $CAN 9,793 per recipient. Physician fees ($CAN 6,958) and chemotherapy ($CAN 6,485) were also significant. Compared to published estimates of the cost of myeloablative HSCT, NMT appears considerably less costly in the first year post-transplant. Our analysis suggests that the lower cost of NMT was largely attributable to the limited amount of inpatient care these patients received. Further follow-up will be informative since the major complications of NMT including chronic GvHD and relapse may impact per transplant cost after the first year post-transplant. Direct comparison with myeloablative HSCT using our prospective costing method is also planned.