A new report published in the Journal of Burn Care and Research has provided fresh evidence for the economic viability of reimbursing thermal fuses via Medicare.
A study, led by Clifford Sheckter and Rebecca Coffey, has evaluated the costs and benefits of implementing a federal policy to distribute thermal fuses to all home oxygen users with COPD in the US.
The research model, which accounted for annual cycling, included probabilities of burns, deaths, and property loss derived from a systematic literature review. Costs were assessed from societal and Medicare perspectives, factoring in the purchase and shipping of thermal fuses, healthcare for burn patients, and extended life in advanced COPD.
The policy was found to generate a societal saving of $305.40 million over ten years, including the costs of avoided property damage.
Co-author and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Stanford University and Director of Regional Burn Center, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Clifford Sheckter, commented, “HOT fires can be catastrophic from both loss of life perspective and economically as well. Our analysis was a conservative estimate for both, with the hope of demonstrating that under these conditions the prevention measures we propose – thermal fuses – would be cost-effective.”
