OBJECTIVES: To determine the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of a collaborative dementia care management versus usual care in Germany.

METHODS: The cost-utility analysis was based on the data collected from 444 patients and conducted alongside the general-practitioner based, cluster-randomized, controlled interventional trial DelpHi-MV (Dementia: Life- and Person Centred Help in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Germany) that was initiated to evaluate a collaborative dementia care management aiming to provide optimal treatment and care. The healthcare resource uses and corresponding unit costs were used to calculate the costs from a public payer’s perspective. Preference-based health utility values assessed using the SF-6D were used to estimate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). The ICER was calculated using the incremental cost per QALY gained by the dementia care management program compared with usual care at 24 months using a wide range of willingness-to-pay (WTP) margins.

RESULTS: At the base-case analyses, compared with usual care, the dementia care management was associated with higher QALY (1.35 vs. 1.30) and lower cost (24,046€ vs. 24,615€) after 24 months. The probability of the management approach being cost effectiveness was 88% and 95% at willingness to pay thresholds of 40,000€ and 80,000€ per QALY gained, respectively. Scenario analyses with complete cases, protocol-driven costs removed, and truncated extremely high-cost patients confirmed the robustness of the cost effectiveness at baseline.

CONCLUSIONS: The dementia care management increased QALYs and reduced costs compared with the usual care. Therefore, an implementation into routine care could be beneficial for both patients and health care payers.