The potential cost-effectiveness of general practitioner delivered brief intervention for alcohol misuse: Evidence from rural Australia

ObjectiveThis paper aims to model General Practitioner (GP) delivered screening and brief intervention (BI), and to identify the costs per additional risky drinker who reduces alcohol consumption to low-risk levels, relative to current practice.MethodA decision model and nine different scenarios were developed to assess outcomes and costs of GP-delivered screening and BI on the potential number of risky drinkers who reduce their alcohol consumption to low-risk levels in 10 rural communities in New South Wales, Australia.FindingsBased on evidence from current practice, approximately 19% of all risky drinkers visiting GPs annually would reduce alcohol consumption to low-risk levels, of which 0.7% would do so because of GP-delivered screening and BI. If rates of screening and BI are increased to 100%, 36% of these risky drinkers would reduce their drinking to low risk-levels. Alternatively, increments of 10% and 20% in GP-delivered screening and BI would reduce the proportion of risky drinkers by 2.1% and 4.2% respectively. The most cost-effective outcome per additional risky drinker reducing their drinking relative to current practice would be if all of these risky drinkers are screened alone with an ICER of AUD$197.ConclusionThese findings indicate that increments in rates of screening and BI delivered by GPs can result in cost-effective reductions per additional risky drinkers reducing their drinking to low-risk levels, relative to current practice. They also imply that achieving substantial reductions in the prevalence of risky drinking in a community will require strategies other than opportunistic screening and BIs by GPs.

► Higher screening and BI rates can be cost-effective relative to current practice. ► 19% of risky drinkers visiting GPs currently reduce their drinking in a year. ► If all risky drinkers are screened and receive BIs by GPs it would rise to 36%. ► Increasing screening up to 100% is associated with the lowest ICER. ► However, only 3.6% of risky drinkers would reduce consumption from BI.