OBJECTIVES: Knee osteoarthritis is the most common form of joint disease and has been shown to be associated with aging. It affects 3.8% of the population, worldwide, and causes significant disability, impairing patient’s quality of life. Current treatment options are as follows: pharmacological, non-pharmacological and surgical. Viscosupplementation is a treatment with exogenous hyaluronic acid applied to the knees for symptom relief and postponing surgery. This study aims to estimate the budget impact of viscosupplementation treatment for knee osteoarthritis.

METHODS: The analysis was estimated using epidemiological, populational and direct costs from the Brazilian Unified National Health System databases, over a five-year time horizon. The study population was defined based on the assumption that 5% of patients with osteoarthritis would receive the new treatment. Viscosupplementation treatment scenario was constructed with one ampoule of exogenous hyaluronic acid-year added to the current treatment (drugs, health education, and physical therapy). An alternative scenario adding an oral chondroprotector to the current treatment was elaborated. A sensitivity analysis of scenarios was performed.

RESULTS: The budget impact of viscosupplementation was estimated in BRL 343 million (USD 92.702) for the knee osteoarthritis treatment with BRL 181 million (USD 48.918) in incremental costs for this strategy. The alternative scenario with chondroprotector was estimated at the cost of BRL 704 million (USD 190.270), representing an increase of 104% compared with viscosupplementation treatment. The sensitivity analysis shows that costs and patients percentage using oral chondroprotector was the variables with great impact in this analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: The treatment with this technology can provide a better quality of life to patients, postponing surgery and allowing the optimization of healthcare. Its adoption may result in a reduction of surgical procedures and costs as consequence of viscosupplementation treatment.