Abstract 15011: Recent Trends in Interventional Treatment of Acute Pulmonary Embolism and Their Implications for a National Healthcare System
Katharina Mohr, Ioannis T Farmakis, Stefano Barco, Richard N Channick, Konstantinos Christodoulou, Jay S Giri, Lukas Hobohm, Brent Keeling, Karsten Keller, Michelle Lanno, Robert A Lookstein, John M Moriarty, Jamie Reed, Rachel P Rosovsky, Kenneth Rosenfield, Eric A Secemsky, Thomas M Todoran, Harald Binder, Stavros V Konstantinides- Physiology (medical)
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Introduction: Catheter-directed treatment (CDT) of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is gaining popularity in Europe, following a trend that originated earlier in the US. For healthcare systems, reimbursement of CDT depends on their clinical benefits along with assessing the impact on hospital costs.
Hypothesis-Aims: To estimate how increasing use of CDT, as reflected by prospective US data, may affect costs of PE treatment in the German hospital remuneration system (G-DRG).
Methods: We analyzed data from the German nationwide inpatient sample (Federal Statistical Office), covering all hospitalizations for PE, for the years 2018-2019. For the same period, we analyzed prospective patient-level data from the multicenter US registry of the Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT) Consortium.
Results: During the study period, 196,167 patients were hospitalized for acute PE in Germany. Of these, 64,056 (33%) had intermediate-risk or high-risk PE, but overall ≤ 1% received CDT. Median reimbursement was є3,572 (IQR, 2,804-5,869), corresponding to є4,088 in inflation-adjusted 2022 currency ($5,678, adjusted for purchase parity power). Of 1,349 patients with intermediate- or high-risk PE included in the US registry in 2018-2019, 284 (21%) received CDT, mostly aspiration thrombectomy (63/1,349; 4.7%), ultrasound-assisted catheter thrombolysis (151; 11.2%), or non-assisted catheter thrombolysis (47; 3.5%). Median length of stay was 4.5 (2.8-8.2) days. Based on current reimbursement rates in the G-DRG, fees for PE treated with aspiration thrombectomy amount to є12,179-15,753, and for catheter-directed thrombolysis (with or without ultrasound) to є9,858-13,829. Considering, (a) the shorter length of stay; (b) the proportion of patients receiving CDT in the elevated-risk US cohort in 2018-19; and (c) that of intermediate- and high-risk PE in the German PE inpatient sample, average remuneration per patient would rise from currently є4,088 to є4,724 ($6,552).
Conclusions: CDT for PE patients at elevated risk would currently lead to a 16% increase in average per-patient hospital costs in Germany. Together with clinical validation of CDT in ongoing studies, these estimates may inform decision making on reimbursement of interventional treatment options.