TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving alcohol management in primary health care in Mexico
T2 - A return-on-investment analysis
AU - Solovei, Adriana
AU - Rovira, Pol
AU - Anderson, Peter
AU - Jané-Llopis, Eva
AU - Natera Rey, Guillermina
AU - Arroyo, Miriam
AU - Medina, Perla
AU - Mercken, Liesbeth
AU - Rehm, Jürgen
AU - de Vries, Hein
AU - Manthey, Jakob
N1 - © 2023 The Authors. Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.
PY - 2023/1/16
Y1 - 2023/1/16
N2 - INTRODUCTION: Alcohol screening, brief advice and referral to treatment (SBIRT) in primary health care is an effective strategy to decrease alcohol consumption at population level. However, there is relatively scarce evidence regarding its economic returns in non-high-income countries. The current paper aims to estimate the return-on-investment of implementing a SBIRT program in Mexican primary health-care settings. METHODS: Empirical data was collected in a quasi-experimental study, from 17 primary health-care centres in Mexico City regarding alcohol screening delivered by 145 health-care providers. This data was combined with data from a simulation study for a period of 10 years (2008 to 2017). Economic investments were calculated from a public sector health-care perspective as clinical consultation costs (salary and material costs) and program costs (set-up, adaptation, implementation strategies). Economic return was calculated as monetary gains in the public sector health-care, estimated via simulated reductions in alcohol consumption, dependent on population coverage of alcohol interventions delivered to primary health-care patients. RESULTS: Results showed that scaling up a SBIRT program in Mexico over a 10-year period would lead to positive return-on-investment values ranging between 21% in scenario 4 (confidence interval -8.6%, 79.5%) and 110% in scenario 5 (confidence interval 51.5%, 239.8%). Moreover, over the 10-year period, up to 16,000 alcohol-related deaths could be avoided as a result of implementing the program. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: SBIRT implemented at national level in Mexico may lead to substantial financial gains from a public sector health-care perspective.
AB - INTRODUCTION: Alcohol screening, brief advice and referral to treatment (SBIRT) in primary health care is an effective strategy to decrease alcohol consumption at population level. However, there is relatively scarce evidence regarding its economic returns in non-high-income countries. The current paper aims to estimate the return-on-investment of implementing a SBIRT program in Mexican primary health-care settings. METHODS: Empirical data was collected in a quasi-experimental study, from 17 primary health-care centres in Mexico City regarding alcohol screening delivered by 145 health-care providers. This data was combined with data from a simulation study for a period of 10 years (2008 to 2017). Economic investments were calculated from a public sector health-care perspective as clinical consultation costs (salary and material costs) and program costs (set-up, adaptation, implementation strategies). Economic return was calculated as monetary gains in the public sector health-care, estimated via simulated reductions in alcohol consumption, dependent on population coverage of alcohol interventions delivered to primary health-care patients. RESULTS: Results showed that scaling up a SBIRT program in Mexico over a 10-year period would lead to positive return-on-investment values ranging between 21% in scenario 4 (confidence interval -8.6%, 79.5%) and 110% in scenario 5 (confidence interval 51.5%, 239.8%). Moreover, over the 10-year period, up to 16,000 alcohol-related deaths could be avoided as a result of implementing the program. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: SBIRT implemented at national level in Mexico may lead to substantial financial gains from a public sector health-care perspective.
U2 - 10.1111/dar.13598
DO - 10.1111/dar.13598
M3 - Article
C2 - 36646970
SN - 0959-5236
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Drug and Alcohol Review
JF - Drug and Alcohol Review
ER -