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THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PKU
The annual cost of medical formula for PKU averages $7,100 per year. Depending on the pharmacy mark-up, the cost can be twice this amount in some areas of the country.The cost of diagnosing and subsequently treating PKU pales in comparison to the costs of treating someone who was not properly diagnosed as the information below indicates:
| Estimated costs for detection and treatment versus custodial care |
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| Cost per infant for newborn screening (varies by state, $25-100) |
$50 |
| Number of newborn needing screening each year |
4 million |
| Annual cost of newborn screening for all |
$200 million |
| Annual cost per person for medical formula |
$7,100 |
| Number of Americans needing formula |
20,000 |
| Annual cost of formula for all Americans with PKU |
$142 million |
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| Annual cost of Nursing Assistant care in residential care center |
$50,000-100,000 |
| Number potentially requiring care because of non-treatment |
20,000 |
| Annual cost of managing disabled patients treated too late |
$1-2 billion |
(Information from Buist, Huntington, Winter: “Healthcare Coverage for Medical Food Treatment of Inborn Errors of Metabolism,” June 2009.)
In addition, two articles have also been published about the long-term cost savings involved in treating PKU in Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Scheon, Baker, Colby and To concluded in “Cost-Benefit Analysis of Universal Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Newborn Screening” (2002) that the cost per year of life saved by newborn screening is less than other mass screening programs, including those for breast and prostate cancer. Later, Carroll and Downs write in “Comprehensive Cost-Utility Analysis of Newborn Screening Strategies” (2005) that newborn screening is one of the rare health care interventions that is both beneficial to patients and cost saving. They concluded that over the long term, funding comprehensive newborn screening programs will save money for society.
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