MS Case Costs Multiple Sclerosis

MS Case Costs

Multiple Sclerosis Case Study: Cost Management

Though it seems callous to consider health outcomes in terms of cost to the system, this is often the reality for hospital administrators and case managers. The nature of the current healthcare system, Cohen & Cesta () argue, is such that "it is important to present some of the methods of evaluating cost-effectiveness of nursing case management." (Cohen & Cesta, 513) in light of the case in question, concerning the aged and newly diagnosed sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis, this cost management analysis must weigh both those methods expected to provide better health outcomes and those methods which are generally more cost effective. As the discussion demonstrates, these are often factors which function as counterpoints to one another. Increasingly, research shows, this is the case with Multiple Sclerosis.

Here, with new technologies and a greater understanding of the genetic material constituting the human body, we have become increasingly more adept at treating conditions at their root. Therefore, in the case of our patient, it is reasonable to consider the employment of certain methods that transcend the symptom-focused pharmaceutical courses traditionally used in spite of a prohibitive cost. Indeed, Kobelt et al. (2005) would report that "new biological disease-modifying treatments have been introduced in a field where only symptomatic pharmacological treatment had been available. The new treatments come at a high cost, between $8-12,000 per patient and year. Consequently, it must be expected that the part of total costs represented by drugs has increased, from essentially a very minor part in the nineties (2-5%) to a much larger proportion. " (Kobelt et al., 1)

Essentially, this means that even as treatments are becoming more inherently effectively, research and development processes have engendered greater expenses for the patient or insurance provider. All recent indications suggest that costs have risen across the boards for treatment, with the study by Specialty Pharmacy News (2007) indicating that "a pair of recent drug reports shows that while the usage of multiple sclerosis (MS) treatments seems fairly even from 2005 to 2006, the costs of those therapies are rising strongly." (SPN, 1) This is to suggest that there are drug therapies available which could significantly improve the quality of life and expectancy for the patient at the center of this case study. However, these are also fundamentally less cost effective measures and approaches which would certainly not be available to those with limited or lacking insurance coverage.

Cost effective ways of contending with Multiple Sclerosis therefore tend increasingly to be those methods which detect the condition early and begin limited therapy that can head off its severity at the pass. According to the source provided by the MS Network, "the aim of multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment should be to stabilize patients on a low disability (low cost) level at an early stage of the disease utilizing a cost-effective therapy." (Infonicks, 1) Naturally, this is not always possible. Indeed, in the case of the patient in question, it is clear that the condition has at least advanced enough to cause physical and emotional depression. As a result, treating the condition with the types of indirect muscle therapy and symptom-treating drugs that might be employed for younger early detection cases would be likely to have a lower demonstrated reliability in terms of achieving desired treatment outcomes.