Financial impact of DAA services. A financial impact model was constructed based on patient data on resource use and outcomes collected in Phases 2 and 3, and health service use, Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) and PBS data, as well as additional residential care and community care costs. This analysis must be interpreted in light of DAA customers in general exhibiting a greater severity of illness than OP customers. Table 4.4 presents the results of the financial model. The cost per patient per year in the OP arm was $5,156 compared with $7,966 per patient using a DAA. Over a 12-month period, the DAA use strategy resulted in 0.7 fewer deaths but cost an additional $45,040 in health service and support costs. In this model, the cost of PBS drugs was the highest service cost for the OP arm of the model but residential care was the highest service cost for the DAA arm. The biggest difference between the two arms in costs for a single resource was also in residential care use, with the DAA arm estimated to cost 1.9 times more than the OP arm, reflecting the fact that 7.4% of DAA patients were admitted to a RCF compared with 3.8% of OP patients. Overall, 83% of the total difference in costs between the groups was accounted for by non-medical support (RCF care and community care).
