High-dose flu vaccinations are worth the extra cost for seniors living in long-term care, according to researchers at Brown University.
Higher-dose shots cut hospitalization rates compared to their standard-dose cousins, showed a new cost-benefit analysis published in JAMDA, the journal of The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
While they cost more, the higher dose vaccines were also shown to reduce facilities’ overall healthcare expenses.
The authors examined expenditures from more than 37,000 residents of long-stay nursing homes with Medicare Part A, B and D fee-for-service claims and compared expenditures between residents of facilities that offered high-dose and those offering standard-dose vaccines.
Each high-dose vaccine cost $20 more, but investigators reported net financial savings of $526 for patients who received the higher dose. That’s a return on investment of more than $26 for every $1 spent. These savings, the authors noted, “are in addition to the net loss of health or healthy time” lived by those receiving the standard-dose versus a high-dose vaccine.
