Felipe Rodriguez, Lina Maria Salgar, Denisse Vega and Alejandro Bryon
AcceptedAbstracts: J Neurol Neurophysiol
Background: In Colombia, spasticity is a condition that needs more research about the resource use (costs) necessary for its treatment. Costing tools are designed for assessing pathologies depending on the parameters of each population. Method: The costing tool was designed in Excel through three stages. The first was a revision of different documents that define the guidelines of diagnostics, treatment and follow-up: seven Clinical Trials, three Latinoamerican Consensus, six Treatment Guides and seven Cost Effectiveness studies. The second was a validation of the variables through a consensus meeting ?RAND methodology- including eleven doctors (10 Physiatrist, 1 Neuropediatrician). The third stage consisted on creating the costing tool following the guidelines established by NICE. Results: Costs were gathered through the revision made in the first stage and validated by the experts assembled in the consensus meeting. The resources are direct medical costs defined in 49 variables and 9 resource groups in Children, and in 40 variables and 8 resource groups in Adults. Besides, the costing tool was builtconsidering the parameters in NICE, creating a standard tool. Conclusions: In Colombia and worldwide, a tool of these characteristics does not exist for estimating the cost of spasticity. Moreover, includes variables that are notcomprised in cost-effectiveness studies, and in the international context, it offers the first step to obtain the guidelines in costing for the management of this condition. However, one limitation is that is required a continuous registry of the patients (minimum a year) in order to obtain more precise estimations.
Felipe Rodriguez finished his studies in Economics and he is currently studying his Master?s Degree in Finance at Universidad Externado (Bogota, Colombia).He is a Research Assistant at HEORT (Health Economics and Outcomes Research Team); firm specialized in Health Economics consulting and established in the same city where he is developing his master?s studies.
