OBJECTIVES: Heavy uterine bleeding (HUB) is a common disorder in women of reproductive age, affecting 11-13% of the general population. Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA) significantly affects patients’ quality of life and productivity due to the associated fatigue. Ferric Carboxymaltose solution (F-Rx) is an iron solution for IDA treatment. Compared with other iron solutions, F-Rx is associated with reduced number of venous punctures, injections duration and hospital visits. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the budgetary impact of adopting F-Rx solution on the budget of a tertiary care hospital (King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh (KAMC-R) as a treatment for IDA in HUB patients treated in their facilities.

METHODS: a budget impact model was developed to estimate the budgetary impact of adopting F-Rx solution on KAMC-R budget as a treatment for IDA in HUB patients over a one-year time horizon. Savings in terms of costs and administration time per patient were reported.

RESULTS: The annual total cost to manage IDA in 800 HUB patients treated at KAMC-R facilities using Iron Saccharate (S-RX) was 1.5 times higher than those for F-Rx (SAR 1.07 Million versus SAR 725,000, respectively, 1SAR=$USD 0.27). Moreover, the ward capacity for F-Rx solution was 95.9% lower than S-Rx resulting in savings in staff time that could potentially be utilized elsewhere. Also, F-Rx solution resulted in 92% lower patient’s productivity loss and transportation costs compared to S-Rx. In one-way sensitivity analysis, none of the parameters had a substantial effect on the overall cost savings associated with F-Rx use, which validated the robustness of the findings.

CONCLUSIONS: F-Rx solution use has the potential to considerably reduce the costs associated with treating HUB patients as well as reduce the time spent by various healthcare professionals and by the patients to manage IDA, freeing more human and financial resources on the patient, provider and payer levels.