Income generated by women treated with magnetic resonance imaging-based brachytherapy: A simulation study evaluating the macroeconomic benefits of implementing a high-end technology in a public sector healthcare setting

Purpose To estimate the difference in income generated if all women presenting in our institute over a 5-year period were treated with MRI-based image-guided brachytherapy (MR-IGBT) instead of conventional radiograph–based brachytherapy (CR-BT). Methods and Materials Outcome data from 463 patients (94 treated with MR-IGBT) treated in our institute was used to simulate cumulative women-days of work and cumulative income over 5 years for 5526 patients expected to be treated in this period. The average daily income for a woman was derived from the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) survey data. Outcomes from both unmatched and propensity score-matched data sets were simulated. Results The cumulative income in 5 years ranged between Rs 101–168 million if all patients presenting at our institute underwent MR-IGBT. The simulated excess income ranged from Rs 4–45 million after 5 years, which represented 6–66% of the expenditure incurred for acquiring the required equipment and manpower for practicing exclusive MR-IGBT. Conclusions Using outcome data from a prospective cohort of patients treated with MR-IGBT in our institute, we demonstrated that significant economic gains may be realized if MR-IGBT was used instead of CR-BT.