Fixed interval cost calculations
Tatsunori Murata
How do I calculate the cost of the treatment which is conducted at fixed intervals (e.g. once every three weeks) in a weekly cycle model?
Comments
Hi Tatsunori,
I think a good idea could be to create a table with the treatment cost per stage (or cycle) eg. in the first line of the table $0, first cycle $100, second cycle $0, third cycle $0, fourth cycle $100 and so on.
Then on the incremental cost of the Markov info you can reference the table instead of using a value or a formula eg.: tablename[_stage], (don't forget to use the [_stage] command!!), and the software will use the cost of each cycle specified in the table.
Hope this helps!,
Ruben
Hi,
Another way is to use the modulo command. e.g.
If(modulo(_stage;3)=0;Costvariable;0)
This will count the cost every 3 weeks and is less work. Note that the '3' in the formula can be replaced with a variable if you want that to change over time.
I also use the modulo() function. Another example would be costs for an annual screening process where the cohort (or the individual in a microsimulation) is assigned a cost for a screening test every 12 months:
if(modulo(_stage;12/CycleLength) = 0;DR*cAnnualScreening;0)
where 'CycleLength' is the cycle length in months and 'DR' is the discount function (if global discounting is not used)
I like the Modulo approach suggested by Harpreet Singh and David Naimark.
This provides more flexibility by allowing you to run sensitivity analysis on the cost parameter (e.g., cAnnualScreening).
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