Title
Cost-Benefit Analysis of the COPE Program for Persons Living With Dementia: Toward a Payment Model
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-16-2022
Abstract
Background and objectives: There is a critical need for effective interventions to support quality of life for persons living with dementia and their caregivers. Growing evidence supports nonpharmacologic programs that provide care management, disease education, skills training, and support. This cost-benefit analysis examined whether the Care of Persons with Dementia in their Environments (COPE) program achieves cost savings when incorporated into Connecticut's home- and community-based services (HCBS), which are state- and Medicaid-funded.
Research design and methods: Findings are based on a pragmatic trial where persons living with dementia and their caregiver dyads were randomly assigned to COPE with HCBS, or HCBS alone. Cost measures included those relevant to HCBS decision makers: intervention delivery, health care utilization, caregiver time, formal care, and social services. Data sources included care management records and caregiver report.
Results: Per-dyad mean cost savings at 12 months were $2 354 for those who received COPE with a mean difference-in-difference of -$6 667 versus HCBS alone (95% CI: -$15 473, $2 734; not statistically significant). COPE costs would consume 5.6%-11.3% of Connecticut's HCBS annual spending limit, and HCBS cost-sharing requirements align with participants' willingness to pay for COPE.
Discussion and implications: COPE represents a potentially cost-saving dementia care service that could be financed through existing Connecticut HCBS. HCBS programs represent an important, sustainable payment model for delivering nonpharmacological dementia interventions such as COPE.
Recommended Citation
Pizzi, Laura T; Jutkowitz, Eric; Prioli, Katherine M; Lu, Ember Yiwei; Babcock, Zachary; McAbee-Sevick, Heather; Wakefield, Dorothy B; Robison, Julie; Molony, Sheila; Piersol, Catherine V.; Gitlin, Laura N; and Fortinsky, Richard H, "Cost-Benefit Analysis of the COPE Program for Persons Living With Dementia: Toward a Payment Model" (2022). Department of Occupational Therapy Faculty Papers. Paper 95.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/otfp/95
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PubMed ID
35047708
Language
English
Comments
This article is the author’s final published version in Innovation in Aging, Volume 6, Issue 1, October 2022, Article number igab042.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab042. Copyright © Pizzi et al.