Aims: Rifaximin-a as an adjunct to lactulose is reimbursed in the Netherlands for prevention of the third and subsequent episodes of overt Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE) in cirrhotic patients. However, use of rifaximin-a remains limited. This study evaluates the clinical and economic impact of treating all patients eligible under Dutch reimbursement conditions with rifaximin-a as an adjunct to lactulose for the prevention of overt HE in the Netherlands from a hospital and healthcare payer's perspective. Materials and methods: A budget impact analysis was performed following national and international guidelines. Resource use was based on Dutch real-world data. HE-related cost inputs were based on the declaration codes, Dutch cost manual, and actual drug list prices. Several sensitivity and scenario analyses were conducted to assess model robustness. Results: Treating eligible HE patients with rifaximin-a in addition to lactulose saves e4,487 and costs e249 per patient over a 5-year period compared with lactulose monotherapy from hospital and healthcare payer's perspectives, respectively. In the Netherlands, an estimated 38% of the 2,567 eligible patients are currently being treated with rifaximin-a. Optimizing rifaximin-a use by treating all eligible patients with the rifaximin-a þ lactulose could save more than 3,000 hospital admissions, almost 15,000 hospital bed days, and 300 deaths over a 5-year period. Despite increased drug costs, treatment is estimated to result in potential cost savings over a 5-year period of 7.2 million euros from a Dutch hospital perspective. The budget impact is 397,770 euros from a healthcare payer's perspective. Conclusions: Next to a clinical perspective, also from an economic perspective, wider prescription of rifaximin-a adhering to guidelines could be beneficial to reduce costs from a hospital perspective. From a healthcare payer's perspective, costs increase with addition of rifaximin-a due to relative better survival causing relatively higher drug and liver transplantation-related costs.
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