Real‐time pulmonary artery pressure monitoring in heart failure patients: an updated cost‐effectiveness analysis

AIMS: Previous cost‐effectiveness analysis suggests that CardioMEMS is cost‐effective compared with usual care for patients with persistent New York Heart Association class III symptoms and at least one heart failure (HF) hospitalization within 12 months. The aim of the paper is to perform an update of the cost‐effectiveness analysis of CardioMEMS using the most recent data from the published literature. METHODS AND RESULTS: A Microsoft Excel Markov model from a previous UK cost‐effectiveness study of CardioMEMS was updated using the clinical effectiveness of pulmonary artery pressure (PAP)‐guided treatment derived from the pivotal trials. The model included the device costs (and the implantation procedure and related complications), costs of remote monitoring, costs of HF‐related hospitalizations, and costs of usual care. Quality‐adjusted life years (QALYs) were estimated based on utilities from pivotal trials and published literature. Cost‐effectiveness results were estimated as incremental cost per QALY gained of CardioMEMS compared with usual care. Scenario analyses were also performed using data from real‐world studies that showed a significant decrease in HF‐related hospitalizations. In the base case analysis over a time horizon of 10 years, PAP‐guided HF therapy increased cost compared with usual care by £6337 (i.e. from £22 770 in usual care to £29 107 in PAP‐guided HF therapy) and the QALYs per patient for usual care and PAP‐guided patients were 2.62 and 2.94, respectively, reflecting an increase of 0.32 QALYs with PAP‐guided treatment. The resultant incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio (ICER), the ratio between incremental costs and the QALYs, is estimated at £19 761/QALY. Scenario analyses suggest that the ICER for CardioMEMS can range from being dominant to £27 910/QALY. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses suggested that PAP‐guided HF therapy has 81.9% probability of being cost‐effective at a threshold of £30 000/QALY. CONCLUSIONS: Our model suggests that CardioMEMS is likely to be cost‐effective in the United Kingdom, at the currently considered thresholds of £20 000–30 000/QALY.