An alternative cost effectiveness analysis of ThinPrep in the Australian setting.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the clinical and economic impacts of the use of liquid based cytology (LBC) in the Australian average risk population from the perspective of the public health care budget.

BACKGROUND

Concerns over the evaluation of medical technologies in Australia, which are assessed by the Medicare Services Advisory Committee (MSAC), have been raised recently. We report on the evaluation of LBC, which although being widely adopted in other parts of the world, has, despite substantial uptake in the private sector in Australia, been rejected for public funding by MSAC.

METHODS

We used the health economic model developed by MSAC, but populated the model with the best available international data, sourced from a published review article. The economic model considered the clinical benefits and the costs arising from a biennial cervical screening programme. Net costs divided by life years saved is the cost per life year saved and this is reported as the incremental cost effectiveness.

RESULTS

Populating the MSAC model with data on test performance showed that one type of LBC (ThinPrep) 'dominates' the conventional Pap smear in the screening of average risk women in the Australian setting.

CONCLUSION

The health economic model created by MSAC predicts that ThinPrep dominates the conventional Pap as a screening test for cervical cancer. An additional 2240 high-grade lesions could be detected, resulting in 480 life years gained and delivering an expected saving to the health care system of $5,536,000 per annum if liquid based cytology replaced the conventional Pap.