Cost-Effectiveness of HPV Self-Testing Options for Cervical Cancer Screening.

Abstract

Importance: Mailing human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling kits to underscreened individuals increases cervical cancer screening and can be cost-effective. However, cost-effectiveness has not been evaluated across other screening histories.

Objective: To conduct an economic evaluation of mailed HPV self-sampling among members of a US health care system with adherent, overdue, or unknown screening histories.

Design, setting, and participants: This economic evaluation was a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and budget impact analysis (BIA) based on results of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) conducted between November 20, 2020, to July 29, 2022, in an integrated health care system in Washington State. Intervention delivery costs were calculated from Kaiser Permanente Washington and Medicare perspectives and used wellness-based or screening-only visit costs. Participants included female members aged 30 to 64 years identified through electronic medical records. Data were analyzed from August 1, 2022, to July 29, 2025.

Intervention: Members were randomized by screening history. Adherent participants were assigned to 4 groups: usual care (UC), patient reminders, clinician electronic health record [HER] alerts), education (UC and mailed educational materials), direct mail (UC, education, and mailed self-sampling kit), or opt-in (UC, education, and mailed invitation to request kit). Overdue participants were assigned to 3 groups: UC, education, or direct mail. Participants with unknown adherence were assigned to UC, education, or opt-in.

Main outcome and measures: Primary RCT outcome was screening completion 6 months postrandomization. CEA outcome was incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for screening completion. BIA outcome was annual program implementation cost over 4 years.

Results: Analyses included 31 355 individuals (mean [SD] age, 45.9 [10.4] years). Among screening adherent members, direct mail dominated all other strategies (more effective and cost-saving). Among overdue members, direct mail was also more effective than UC and generated an additional completed screen at a cost ranging from -$19 (95% CI, -$21 to -$16) (cost saving) to $63 (95% CI, $39 to $87) depending on cost basis and visit type. Among unknown members, opt-in generally dominated UC (more effective and cost-saving). The BIA indicated that although the screening adherent subgroup had the largest year 1 program budget, its budget declined fastest and, by year 4, was lowest among the 3 subgroups. Conversely, the smallest annual budget decreases were among eligible individuals with unknown history.

Conclusions and relevance: In this economic analysis of a randomized clinical trial, directly mailing HPV kits to individuals who were screening adherent and overdue for screening was economically dominant over other strategies. Program costs declined rapidly over 4 years. Results support directly mailing HPV kits to eligible individuals as an effective, efficient, and affordable outreach strategy.