Two weeks of additional standing balance circuit classes during inpatient rehabilitation are cost saving and effective: an economic evaluation.

QUESTION: Among people admitted for inpatient rehabilitation, is usual care plus standing balance circuit classes more cost-effective than usual care alone?

DESIGN: Cost-effectiveness study embedded within a randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation, assessor blinding and intention-to-treat analysis.

PARTICIPANTS: 162 rehabilitation inpatients from a metropolitan hospital in Sydney, Australia.

INTERVENTION: The experimental group received a 1-hour standing balance circuit class, delivered three times a week for 2 weeks, in addition to usual therapy. The circuit classes were supervised by one physiotherapist and one physiotherapy assistant for up to eight patients. The control group received usual therapy alone.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Costs were estimated from routinely collected hospital use data in the 3 months after randomisation. The functional outcome measure was mobility measured at 3 months using the Short Physical Performance Battery administered by a blinded assessor. An incremental analysis was conducted and the joint probability distribution of costs and outcomes was examined using bootstrapping.

RESULTS: The median cost savings for the intervention group was AUD4,741 (95% CI 137 to 9,372) per participant; 94% of bootstraps showed that the intervention was both effective and cost saving.

CONCLUSIONS: Two weeks of additional standing balance circuit classes delivered in addition to usual therapy resulted in decreased healthcare costs at 3 months in hospital inpatients admitted for rehabilitation. There is a high probability that this intervention is both cost saving and effective.

REGISTRATION: ACTRN12611000412932. [Treacy D, Howard K, Hayes A, Hassett L, Schurr K, Sherrington C (2018) Two weeks of additional standing balance circuit classes during inpatient rehabilitation are cost saving and effective: an economic evaluation. Journal of Physiotherapy 64: 41-47].