Intervention and societal costs of residential community reintegration for patients with acquired brain injury: a cost-analysis of the Brain Integration Programme

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the intervention costs of a residential community reintegration programme for patients with acquired brain injury and to compare the societal costs before and after treatment.

Methods: A cost-analysis was performed identifying costs of healthcare, informal care, and productivity losses. The costs in the year before the Brain Integration Programme (BIN) were compared with the costs in the year after the BIN using the following cost categories: care consumption, caregiver support, productivity losses. Dutch guidelines were used for cost valuation.

Results: Thirty-three cases participated (72% response). Mean age was 29.8 years, 59% traumatic brain injury. The BIN costs were (sic)68,400. The informal care and productivity losses reduced significantly after BIN (p <0.05), while healthcare consumption increased significantly (p <0.05). The societal costs per patient were (sic)48,449. After BIN these costs were (sic)39,773; a significant reduction (p <0.05). Assuming a stable situation the break-even point is after 8 years.

Conclusion: The reduction in societal costs after the BIP advocates the allocation of resources and, from an economic perspective, favours reimbursement of the BIP costs by healthcare insurance companies. However, this cost-analysis is limited as it does not relate costs to clinical effectiveness.