Matching Items (1)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Epilepsy
Description
Epilepsy is a medical disorder that is difficult to diagnose given the current available protocols and procedures. This project looks at the potential economic impact of a new digital screening technology developed by EpiFinder, Inc. Utilizing a thorough literature review, this thesis generated a concept based clinical utility function comprised of the essential functional aspects of a seizure assessment. EpiFinder’s digital screening tool was then inserted into the clinical utility objective function based on its capabilities. In order to evaluate the potential impact of this model, hospital discharge data from Phoenix Children’s Hospital was assessed for costs relating to procedures performed. This was estimated using average charges for Medicare Part B in 2018. Patients were categorized based on the severity of their seizure presentation into groups of well-controlled, intermediate-controlled, and uncontrolled seizures. Due to a limited data set for well-controlled seizure patients, only intermediate-controlled and uncontrolled groups were compared through the clinical utility model. There was an average cost savings of $227.92 for the uncontrolled group with digital screening and $131.94 for the intermediate-controlled group. The findings of this feasibility study for the economic impact of digital screening suggest further work to refine the model and improve the quality of cost estimates. Clinical utility of seizure assessment procedures and protocols should be quantified through claims data and field specialists opinions to broaden the scope of digital screening’s impact across the continuum of care for epilepsy patients. Comparisons of clinical utility and the creation of an objective function to assess new medical technologies is becoming a common practice for analyzing new medical technologies entering the market. This is the first such attempt in regards to adding a digital screening tool into the current seizure assessment protocols.
ContributorsSilverman, Bernard (Author) / Baldwin, Marjorie (Thesis director) / Mehta, Neel (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05