Such questions can only be answered with longer follow-up of this cohort. The study was conducted from 1993 to 1996 in more than 500 people at Tower Infectious Disease Medical Associates, a managed-care setting. The study assessed the impact of double and triple therapy on the total cost of care, and whether the amount paid for the therapy was offset by the amount saved in hospital and home-infusion costs. Increased use of antiretrovirals also correlated with a decrease in hospitalizations. This was associated with both a reduction in hospital and home-care costs and a decline in deaths that was very dramatic during the last half of 1996.
Protease inhibitors are expensive.
In fact, for every one dollar spent on antiretrovirals, two dollars were saved on other costs for patients with less than 50 CD4s. The Experience at St. Vincent's Dr. Gabriel Torres conducted a similar analysis of patients receiving care at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center in New York City. Since the early days of the epidemic, he and his colleagues had noted an ever-growing number of people with HIV using both inpatient and outpatient services. This trend leveled off in 1995. In 1995, the average daily census fell to 110 PWAs.