Background: We performed a cost-benefit analysis of a previously described self-management program for adult asthma.
Methods: Direct and indirect cost data from 47 subjects who participated in the self-management program were analyzed. In particular, costs incurred by the subjects 1 year before participation were compared with costs incurred 1 year after participation.
Results: The cost-benefit analysis indicated that the program was beneficial, reducing the cost of asthma to each patient by $475.29. The benefit came primarily from reductions in hospital admissions (reduced from $18,488 to $1538) and income lost as a result of asthma (reduced from $11,593 to $4589). The asthma self-management program cost $208.33 per patient. Comparison of the program cost with the program benefit produced a 1:2.28 cost-benefit ratio, demonstrating that the program more than paid for itself.
Conclusion: A self-management program for adult asthma effectively reduced the cost associated with asthma. The findings are especially salient because the subjects' asthma was generally under good medical control when they participated in the program. The savings were therefore not the result of improved medical treatment; medical treatment was a controlled parameter, not a variable, in the self-management study. The self-management program for adult asthma was cost-beneficial.