Highlights
- •There is growing interest in internet-delivered pain management programs (iPMPs).
- •The cost-effectiveness of an iPMP with different levels of clinical support was examined.
- •Evidence of cost-effectiveness was found across a broad range of clinical outcomes.
- •Evidence of cost-effectiveness was found with different levels of clinician support.
Abstract
There is growing interest in the potential of internet-delivered pain management programs
(PMPs) to increase access to care for people with chronic pain. However, very few
economic evaluations of these interventions have been reported. Using existing data,
the current study examined the cost-effectiveness of an internet-delivered PMP for
a mixed group chronic pain patients (n = 490) provided with different levels of clinician
support. The findings indicated that each additional clinical outcome (defined as
a ≥ 30% reduction in disability, depression, anxiety, and pain) was associated with
cost-savings when the intervention was provided in a self-guided format (ICER range:
−$404–−$808 AUD) or an optional-guided format (ICER range: −$314–−$541 AUD), and a
relatively small fixed cost when provided in the clinician-guided format (ICER range:
$88–$225 AUD). The results were driven by a reduction in service use costs among the
treatment groups, which offset the costs of providing the internet-delivered PMP in
the self-guided and optional-guided formats. The same general pattern of results was
found when more stringent clinical outcomes (defined as a ≥ 50% reduction) were employed.
These findings suggest that carefully developed and administered internet-delivered
PMPs, provided with different levels of clinician support, can be highly cost effective
for patients with a broad range of pain conditions.
Perspective
This study examines the cost-effectiveness of an internet-delivered PMP provided to
adults with a broad range of chronic pain conditions. Evidence of cost-effectiveness
was found across a broad range of clinical outcomes and with different levels of clinician
support.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 20, 2020
Accepted:
November 2,
2020
Received in revised form:
October 27,
2020
Received:
August 10,
2020
Footnotes
B Dear and N Titov are authors and developers of the Pain Course, but derive no personal or financial benefit from it. This research was enabled by funding from the New South Wales State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 by United States Association for the Study of Pain, Inc.
