BACKGROUND: In 2012, CDC launched the first federally funded national mass media antismoking campaign. The Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) campaign resulted in a 12% relative increase in population-level quit attempts. PURPOSE: Cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted in 2013 to evaluate Tips from a funding agency's perspective. METHODS: Estimates of sustained cessations; premature deaths averted; undiscounted life years (LYs) saved; and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained by Tips were estimated. RESULTS: Tips saved about 179,099 QALYs and prevented 17,109 premature deaths in the U.S. With the campaign cost of roughly $48 million, Tips spent approximately $480 per quitter, $2,819 per premature death averted, $393 per LY saved, and $268 per QALY gained. CONCLUSIONS: Tips was not only successful at reducing smoking-attributable morbidity and mortality but also was a highly cost-effective mass media intervention.

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of childhood asthma in the United States increased from 8.7% in 2001 to 9.5% in 2011. This increased prevalence adds to the costs incurred by state Medicaid programs. We provide state-based cost estimates of pediatric asthma emergency department (ED) visits and highlight an opportunity for states to reduce these costs through a recently changed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation. METHODS: We used a cross-sectional design across multiple data sets to produce state-based cost estimates for asthma-related ED visits among children younger than 18, where Medicaid/CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) was the primary payer. RESULTS: There were approximately 629,000 ED visits for pediatric asthma for Medicaid/CHIP enrollees, which cost $272 million in 2010. The average cost per visit was $433. Costs ranged from $282,000 in Alaska to more than $25 million in California. CONCLUSIONS: Costs to states for pediatric asthma ED visits vary widely. Effective January 1, 2014, the CMS rule expanded which type of providers can be reimbursed for providing preventive services to Medicaid/CHIP beneficiaries. This rule change, in combination with existing flexibility for states to define practice setting, allows state Medicaid programs to reimburse for asthma interventions that use nontraditional providers (such as community health workers or certified asthma educators) in a nonclinical setting, as long as the service was initially recommended by a physician or other licensed practitioner. The rule change may help states reduce Medicaid costs of asthma treatment and the severity of pediatric asthma.

The prevention of central line-associated bloodstream infections in patients in hospital critical care units has been a target of efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since the 1960s. We developed a historical economic model to measure the net economic benefits of preventing these infections in Medicare and Medicaid patients in critical care units for the period 1990-2008-a time when reductions attributable to federal investment resulted primarily from CDC efforts-using the cost perspective of the federal government as a third-party payer. The estimated net economic benefits ranged from $640 million to $1.8 billion, with the corresponding net benefits per case averted ranging from $15,780 to $24,391. The per dollar rate of return on the CDC's investments ranged from $3.88 to $23.85. These findings suggest that investments in CDC programs targeting other health care-associated infections also have the potential to produce savings by lowering Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.