The cost-effectiveness of neonatal versus prenatal screening for congenital toxoplasmosis.

BACKGROUND: Congenital Toxoplasmosis (CT) can have severe consequences. France, Austria, and Slovenia have prenatal screening programs whereas some other countries are considering universal screening to reduce congenital transmission and severity of infection in children. The efficiency of such programs is debated increasingly as seroprevalence among pregnant women and incidence of congenital toxoplasmosis show a steady decrease. In addition, uncertainty remains regarding the effectiveness of pre- and postnatal treatments. METHOD: To identify cost-effective strategies, prenatal and neonatal screenings were compared using a decision-analytic model based on French guidelines and current knowledge of long-term evolution of the disease in treated children. Epidemiological data were extracted from the scientific literature and clinical data from the French Lyon cohort. Strategies were compared at one year of age, when infection can be definitively evaluated, and at 15 years of age, after which validated outcome data become scarce. The analysis was performed from the French Health Insurance System perspective and included direct medical costs for pregnant women and their children. RESULTS: The 1-year Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio showed that prenatal screening would require investing €14,826 to avoid one adverse event (liveborn with CT, fetal loss, neonatal death or pregnancy termination) compared to neonatal screening. Extra investment increased up to €21,472 when considering the 15-year endpoint. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal screening is cost-effective as compared to neonatal screening in moderate prevalence areas with predominant Type II strains. In addition, prenatal screening, by providing closer follow-up of women at risk increases the number of occasions for education avoiding toxoplasmosis.

[Increase kidney transplant: guidelines of Haute Autorité de Santé]. / Développer la transplantation rénale: les recommandations de la Haute Autorité de Santé.

The Haute Autorité de santé, in association with the Agence de la biomédecine, realizes, at the request of the Caisse nationale d'assurance maladie des travailleurs salariés and the Direction générale de l'offre de soins, a medical economic evaluation on treatment's alternative of terminal chronic renal insufficiency. To answer at this request, a multiannual working program was set up. A first part of this work concerned specifically the development of the kidney transplant. Indeed, the kidney transplant occupies a particular place among the various modalities of treatment of the terminal chronic renal insufficiency because it is at the same time the most effective on a medical plan and the least expensive, thus the most efficient. However, its development is constraint by the lack of the transplants and the number of patients registered on the national list of wait increases every year. The objective of this article is to present the method of work as well as the main identified axes of development.

Formative assessment based on an audit and feedback improves nuchal translucency ultrasound image quality.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this work was to study the impact of an audit and feedback on the quality of routine first-trimester nuchal transparency ultrasound images. METHODS: Eighty-eight sonographers were each sent 2 different series of 30 consecutive nuchal translucency images at a mean interval of 3 months to a dedicated, protected server for remote double-blind independent analysis based on the new Collège Français d'Echographie Foetale/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique image-scoring method (https://www.cfef.org/evaluation/ISMCFEFCNRS.pdf). The sonographers were classified as low (score below the median) or high (score above the median) scorers for each series. Before their second evaluation, 73 of the 88 sonographers received a feedback report on their first series of images, whereas the other 15 participants received no feedback. The baseline characteristics of the participants who did and did not receive feedback were comparable. RESULTS: Participants who received feedback increased their average score significantly, from a mean ± SD of 11.1 ± 1.3 to 13.4 ± 1.4 among low scorers (P < .00001) and from 15.1 ± 1.2 to 16.0 ± 1.4 among high scorers (P < .001), whereas no significant change was seen among participants who received no feedback (low scorers, 10.9 ± 1.5 to 12.1 ± 2.0; P = .11; high scorers, 14.7 ± 1.3 to 14.6 ± 1.3; P = .99). The proportion of satisfactory images increased by 48% among low scorers who received feedback. CONCLUSIONS: Formative assessment based on a moderately intensive audit and feedback is feasible and effective for improving the quality of routine first-trimester nuchal transparency ultrasound images.

Routine HIV screening in France: clinical impact and cost-effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: In France, roughly 40,000 HIV-infected persons are unaware of their HIV infection. Although previous studies have evaluated the cost-effectiveness of routine HIV screening in the United States, differences in both the epidemiology of infection and HIV testing behaviors warrant a setting-specific analysis for France. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We estimated the life expectancy (LE), cost and cost-effectiveness of alternative HIV screening strategies in the French general population and high-risk sub-populations using a computer model of HIV detection and treatment, coupled with French national clinical and economic data. We compared risk-factor-based HIV testing ("current practice") to universal routine, voluntary HIV screening in adults aged 18-69. Screening frequencies ranged from once to annually. Input data included mean age (42 years), undiagnosed HIV prevalence (0.10%), annual HIV incidence (0.01%), test acceptance (79%), linkage to care (75%) and cost/test (€43). We performed sensitivity analyses on HIV prevalence and incidence, cost estimates, and the transmission benefits of ART. "Current practice" produced LEs of 242.82 quality-adjusted life months (QALM) among HIV-infected persons and 268.77 QALM in the general population. Adding a one-time HIV screen increased LE by 0.01 QALM in the general population and increased costs by €50/person, for a cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) of €57,400 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). More frequent screening in the general population increased survival, costs and CERs. Among injection drug users (prevalence 6.17%; incidence 0.17%/year) and in French Guyana (prevalence 0.41%; incidence 0.35%/year), annual screening compared to every five years produced CERs of €51,200 and €46,500/QALY. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: One-time routine HIV screening in France improves survival compared to "current practice" and compares favorably to other screening interventions recommended in Western Europe. In higher-risk groups, more frequent screening is economically justifiable.

Is the "practice style" hypothesis relevant for general practitioners? An analysis of antibiotics prescription for acute rhinopharyngitis.

Much research in France or abroad has highlighted the medical practice variation (MPV) phenomenon. There is no consensus on the origin of MPV between preference-centered approaches versus opportunities and constraints approaches. This study's main purpose is to assess the relevance of hypotheses which assume that physicians adopt a uniform practice style for their patients for each similar clinical decision in a context of medical decision with low uncertainty and professional practice with weak regulation. Multilevel models are evaluated: first to measure variability of antibiotics prescription by French general practitioners (GPs) for acute rhinopharyngitis regarding clinical guidelines, and to test its significance in order to determine to what extent prescription differences are due to between or within GPs discrepancies; second, to prioritize its determinants, especially those relating to a GP or his/her practice setting environment, while controlling visit or patient confounders. The study was based on 2001 activity data, along with an ad hoc questionnaire, of a sample of 778 GP taken from a panel of 1006 computerized French GPs. We observed that a large part of the total variation was due to intra-physician variability (70%). It is patient characteristics that largely explain the prescription, even if GP or practice setting characteristics (location, level of activity, network participation, continuing medical education) and environmental factors (visit from pharmaceutical sales representatives) also exert considerable influence. This suggests that MPV are partly caused by differences in the type of dissemination of medical information and this may help policy makers to identify and develop facilitators for promoting better use of antibiotics in France and, more generally, for influencing GP practices when it is of interest.

Comparison of three methods for estimating rates of adverse events and rates of preventable adverse events in acute care hospitals.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness, reliability, and acceptability of estimating rates of adverse events and rates of preventable adverse events using three methods: cross sectional (data gathered in one day), prospective (data gathered during hospital stay), and retrospective (review of medical records). DESIGN: Independent assessment of three methods applied to one sample. SETTING: 37 wards in seven hospitals (three public, four private) in southwestern France. PARTICIPANTS: 778 patients: medical (n = 278), surgical (n = 263), and obstetric (n = 237). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures were the proportion of cases (patients with at least one adverse event) identified by each method compared with a reference list of cases confirmed by ward staff and the proportion of preventable cases (patients with at least one preventable adverse event). Secondary outcome measures were inter-rater reliability of screening and identification, perceived workload, and face validity of results. RESULTS: The prospective and retrospective methods identified similar numbers of medical and surgical cases (70% and 66% of the total, respectively) but the prospective method identified more preventable cases (64% and 40%, respectively), had good reliability for identification (kappa = 0.83), represented an acceptable workload, and had higher face validity. The cross sectional method showed a large number of false positives and identified none of the most serious adverse events. None of the methods was appropriate for obstetrics. CONCLUSION: The prospective method of data collection may be more appropriate for epidemiological studies that aim to convince clinical teams that their errors contribute significantly to adverse events, to study organisational and human factors, and to assess the impact of risk reduction programmes.