Economic impact of medical genetic testing on clinical applications in Thailand

Abstract

© 2020 Jittikoon et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background Although the clinical benefits of medical genetic testing have been proven, there has been limited evidence on its economic impact in Thai setting. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the economic impact of genetic testing services provided by the Center for Medical Genomics (CMG) in Thailand. Methods Cost-benefit analysis was conducted from provider and societal perspectives. Cost and output data of genetic testing services provided by the CMG during 2014 to 2018 and published literature reviews were applied to estimate the costs and benefits. Monetary benefits related to genetic testing services were derived through human capital approach. Results The total operation cost was 126 million baht over five years with an average annual cost of 21 million baht per year. The net benefit, benefit-to-cost ratio, and return on investment were 5,477 million baht, 43 times, and 42 times, respectively. Productivity gain was the highest proportion (50.57%) of the total benefit. Conclusions The provision of genetic testing services at the CMG gained much more benefits than the cost. This study highlighted a good value for money in the establishment of medical genomics settings in Thailand and other developing countries.