Sera Prognostics Announces Publication Of Health Economic Analysis Supporting PreTRM® Test-and-treat Strategy To Improve Maternal And Infant Health
Publication illustrates clinical benefit of combining PreTRM® testing with evidence-based interventions to improve neonatal health and reduce total health costs
Positive impact on preterm births, neonatal intensive care admissions, overall hospital length of stay and a net $54 million reduction in total costs in the analyzed population
Salt Lake City – September 14, 2021 – Sera Prognostics Inc., The Pregnancy Company™, focused on improving maternal and neonatal health by providing innovative pregnancy biomarker information to doctors and patients, today announced the publication of a rigorous clinical and economic analysis using actual claims data from a broad population of Anthem affiliated health plans to assess the potential value of the PreTRM® test-and-treat strategy.
The study conservatively modeled the PreTRM® strategy, consisting of testing and proactive evidence-based interventions, within Anthem claims data from individual and employer-sponsored plans, and showed both improved neonatal outcomes and reduced immediate and long-term treatment costs associated with premature birth, when compared to routine care. These results were published in the peer-reviewed journal ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research in an article entitled “Cost-Effectiveness of a Proteomic Test for Preterm Birth Prediction.”
“The publication of these data adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the effectiveness of Sera’s test-and-treat strategy in identifying women at risk for sPTB and enabling evidence-based interventions to reduce risk, thus improving pregnancy outcomes while reducing the economic burden on payers and health care systems,” stated Gregory C. Critchfield, MD, MS, Chairman and CEO of Sera Prognostics. “We look forward to discussing the implications of these data as we engage with employers and payors in our efforts to improve pregnancy outcomes and reduce healthcare costs through expanded access to the PreTRM® test.”
The study analysis was conducted by Sera in partnership with HealthCore, using claims data of more than 40,000 pregnant women and infants who were members of individual and employer-sponsored Anthem health plans. The analysis evaluated the PreTRM® test-and-treat strategy by modeling the application of the PreTRM® test during weeks 19 or 20 of pregnancy, and assessed the benefit of proactive interventions consisting of more intensive case-management and monitoring, as well as pharmacologic interventions for women identified as higher-risk by the test, whereas usual care was assumed for any women without higher PreTRM® risk.
Key findings of the analysis include:
20% reduction in preterm birth <37 weeks’ gestation
33% reduction in births <32 weeks’ gestation
10% reduction in neonatal intensive care admissions
7% reduction in overall hospital length-of-stay
$863 net savings ($1,608 gross savings) per pregnant woman, a $54 million reduction in total costs over the study population
“The PreTRM® test-and-treat strategy is associated with both improved outcomes and lower total costs, which is rare among modern medical interventions, said Michael Grabner, Principal Scientist for HealthCore. “The findings were consistent across a wide variety of possible scenarios in terms of test uptake, treatment adherence, treatment efficacy, and accrued costs.”
Based on the study’s estimated net cost savings to the healthcare system of $863 saved per pregnant woman, the authors estimate that more than $850 million could be saved annually in U.S. individual and employer-sponsored health plans, assuming full uptake of the test-and-treat strategy. This is based on an assumption of approximately 4 million births per year, of which approximately 50% occur in women with such commercial health insurance, and further assuming at least half have no evident risk factors for preterm birth.