A Person-Centered eHealth Intervention for Patients With Common Mental Disorders: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Within a Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives The PROMISE project (person-centered eHealth for treatment and rehabilitation of common mental disorders) applied a person-centered eHealth intervention as an add-on to usual care to improve the health of patients with common mental disorders (CMDs). This study aimed to evaluate the cost utility of this intervention compared with usual care alone among patients with CMDs in western Sweden. Methods An open randomized controlled trial was conducted from February 2018 to June 2020 with 100 study participants in the intervention group and 106 in the control group. In the intervention group, patients received person-centered eHealth services through telephone and a web-based digital platform, in addition to the usual care, whereas the control group received usual care alone. Data were collected using questionnaires, extracted from national and regional databases and registers, and translated to costs using national statistics. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was determined using quality-adjusted life years and costs from a societal perspective. The analysis followed the intention-to-treat principle over a 1-year time horizon. Results The add-on person-centered eHealth intervention resulted in an average incremental cost per patient of −20 296 Swedish krona and an average incremental gain in quality-adjusted life years of 0.0054 compared with usual care. This resulted in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio value of −3 776 895, which, in sensitivity analyses, exhibited a 76.3% probability of being cost-effective. Conclusions Add-on person-centered eHealth interventions improves upon the usual care only for patients on sick leave for CMDs. This approach has proven to be cost-effective in managing CMDs and supporting better outcomes for patients on sick leave.