OBJECTIVES: Malnutrition or its risk leads to many adverse health outcomes and increases healthcare costs estimated to be >$10 billion per year across Latin America. Nutrition-focused care with oral nutrition supplementation (ONS) can alleviate such burden for patients and healthcare systems. An economic analysis was performed to demonstrate the value of a nutrition-focused program (QIP; SALUD study) for older adults at-risk/malnourished mainly post hospital discharge in four Latin American countries (Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Peru).

METHODS: Budget-impact analysis (BIA) used a 90-day simulation model to assess the economic impact of QIP from a third-party payer perspective. Model data were retrieved from SALUD study, country-level sources, and published literature. BIA enabled the simulation of cost consequences before and after QIP implementation. Sensitivity analyses were performed (varying all parameters by ±33%). Costs were converted from local currencies to 2021 US dollars, while cost-savings due to QIP were also calculated as percentages of the annual national healthcare expenditures.

RESULTS: Although some differences were observed, QIP resulted in cost savings for each category of healthcare resource use in all countries, with net savings of $219.5, $478.6, $989.1, and $13.2 per patient for Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Peru, respectively. When analyzing the reduction in healthcare costs and comparing it to annual national healthcare expenditures, savings ranged with greatest savings observed for Mexico and lowest for Peru. Parameters with the highest influence were: 1) hospitalization costs, 2) adherence to intervention; 3) malnutrition prevalence, 4) ONS cost, and 5) outpatient visit cost.

CONCLUSIONS: Results support the scalability and economic effectiveness of the QIP as studied in the SALUD study for older adults at-risk/malnourished in Latin American countries. Nutrition-focused care is essential in optimizing management and prevention of malnutrition among older populations, especially post hospitalization and to ensure efficient allocation of resources and sustainability of healthcare systems.