The objective of the retrospective observational study was to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of Medicare patients receiving CAR-T therapy, and compare real-world healthcare utilization, costs, and outcomes pre- and post-therapy. The team used the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 100% Medicare Fee-for-Service Part A and B claims data, which Avalere accesses through a data use agreement with CMS, representing 207 patients who received CAR-T in 2017 and 2018 with 6 months of data pre and post CAR-T procedure.

Key findings include:

• Median age is 71 and older than previously observed in clinical trial literature
• 51% of patients had 1 or more chronic conditions that, in some cases could have excluded them from clinical trials
• The median length of stay in the hospital for the CAR-T procedure was 17 days
• Patients spent 17% less time in the hospital 6 months post CAR-T procedure compared to the 6 months prior to having it
• Overall healthcare costs, exclusive of the costs associated with the CAR-T procedure itself, were reduced by 39% after CAR-T
• CMS, on average, is reimbursing PPS hospitals treating with CAR T ~$422K and ~$467K in the inpatient and outpatient settings respectively
• Limitations of this study include a relatively small sample of Medicare patients which may not represent other US populations and a relatively short look-back and follow-up period which may be insufficient to fully understand longer term outcomes

Karl Kilgore will be presenting the full research on Monday, December 9, at 2:45 PM ET.

Read the research presentation.

Funding for this research was provided by Gilead Sciences, Inc., and Kite Pharma, Inc.

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