Intensive Case Management Cost Effective for Dementia Patients

Researchers recently found that, for older adults with dementia, an intensive case management model (ICMM) of care, wherein care was provided within one care organization, was more cost effective than a linkage model (LM), in which care was provided by multiple care organizations (PLoS One. 2016;11[9]:e0160908).

The objective of the study was to compare the costs and cost effectiveness of the two most prominent types of case management in the Netherlands—ICMM and LM—against those with no access to case management for people with already diagnosed dementia and their caregivers.

The economic evaluation was conducted from a societal perspective embedded within a 2-year, prospective, observational, controlled, cohort study with 521 informal caregivers and community-dwelling persons with dementia. Groups using the two models and a group with no access to case management were compared.

The economic evaluation related incremental costs to incremental effects regarding neuropsychiatric symptoms, psychological health of the informal caregiver, and quality-adjusted life-years of the person with dementia and the informal caregiver.

Researchers found that informal care costs were significantly lower in the ICMM group compared with both other groups. Day center costs were significantly lower in the ICMM group compared with the control group.

The study provides preliminary evidence that the ICMM is cost-effective compared to the control group and the LM, but these findings, said the authors, should be interpreted with caution as the study was not a randomized, controlled trial.—Amanda Del Signore