Treatment of haemophilia and related costs in Finland

Background Haemophilia is a rare congenital bleeding disorder. The European Principles of Haemophilia Care recommend centralizing haemophilia treatment to special healthcare units. In this study we assessed clinical practice and costs of haemophilia care in Finland.

Methods The study is based on the nationwide HemoHEOR cohort, which consists of all adult haemophilia A (HA; n = 131) and B (HB; n = 37) patients treated in the five Finnish University Hospitals from 2012–2016. Patient characteristics and data on healthcare utilization and medication were collected from medical records. Direct costs of care were evaluated based on drug reimbursement prices and the Finnish report on standard unit costs.

Results During 2012–2016, 72% (n = 131) of adult HA and 67% (n = 37) of HB patients in Finland were treated in University Hospitals. Approximately 25% of patients did not experience bleedings during the 4-year follow-up and the median Annual Bleeding Rate in the cohort was low. Most of the patients (> 80%) received factor-replacement therapy, which accounted for 97% of annual direct costs of haemophilia care.

Conclusions The clinical outcomes of haemophilia care in Finnish University Hospitals are excellent and the costs are reasonable. An important future aim is to centralize care of all haemophilia patients to University Hospitals.