More than 2.5 million people in the United States develop pressure injuries annually, which are one of the most common complications occurring in hospitals. Despite being common, hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) are largely considered preventable by regular patient turning. Although current methodologies to prompt on-time repositioning have limited efficacy, a wearable patient sensor has been shown to optimize turning practices and improve clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of patient-wearable sensor in the prevention of HAPIs in acutely ill patients when compared to standard practice alone. A decision analytic model was developed to simulate the expected costs and outcomes from the payer’s perspective using data from published literature, including a recently published randomized controlled trial. Both univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analysis were conducted. The patient-wearable sensor was found to be cost saving (dominant). It resulted in better clinical outcomes (77% reduction in HAPIs) compared to standard care and an expected cost savings of $6,621 per patient over a one-year period. Applying the model to a cohort of 1,000 patients, an estimated 203 HAPIs would be avoided with annualized cost reduction of $6,222,884 through all patient treatment settings. The probabilistic analysis returned similar results. In conclusion, the patient-wearable sensor was found to be cost-effective in the prevention of HAPIs and cost-saving to payers and hospitals. These results suggest that patient-wearable sensors should be considered as a cost-effective alternative to standard care in the prevention of HAPIs.

美国每年有超过 250 万人出现压力性损伤，这是医院中最常见的并发症之一。尽管很常见，但医院获得性压力损伤 (HAPI) 在很大程度上被认为可以通过定期患者翻身来预防。尽管目前促进及时重新定位的方法效果有限，但可穿戴患者传感器已被证明可以优化转向实践并改善临床结果。本研究的目的是评估与单独的标准实践相比，患者可穿戴传感器在预防急性病患者 HAPI 方面的成本效益。开发了一个决策分析模型，使用已发表文献中的数据从付款人的角度模拟预期成本和结果，包括最近发表的一项随机对照试验。进行了单变量和概率敏感性分析。患者可穿戴传感器被发现可以节省成本（占主导地位）。与标准护理相比，它带来了更好的临床结果（HAPI 减少了 77%），并在一年内为每位患者节省了 6,621 美元的预期成本。将该模型应用于 1,000 名患者的队列，估计将避免 203 次 HAPI，通过所有患者治疗设置每年减少 6,222,884 美元的成本。概率分析返回了类似的结果。总之，发现患者可穿戴传感器在预防 HAPI 方面具有成本效益，并为付款人和医院节省了成本。