Determining the Cost-Savings Threshold for HIV Adherence Intervention Studies for Persons with Serious Mental Illness and HIV

Persons with serious mental illnesses are at increased risk for contracting and transmitting HIV and often have poor adherence to medication regimens. Determining the economic feasibility of different HIV adherence interventions among individuals with HIV and serious mental illness is important for program planners who must make resource allocation decisions. The goal of this study was to provide a methodology to estimate potential cost savings from an HIV medication adherence intervention program for a new study population, using data from prior published studies. The novelty of this approach is the way CD4 count data was used as a biological marker to estimate costs averted by greater adherence to anti-retroviral treatment. Our approach is meant to be used in other adherence intervention studies requiring cost modeling.