In this study, biologics provided the largest quality-of-life gains, while step-therapy strategies achieved similar benefits with less variability and lower system costs. Phototherapy remained cost-effective for payers. Divergent incentives-payers favoring phototherapy and patients favoring biologics-underscore the need to align coverage, including reduced cost sharing for home phototherapy, to improve access and system sustainability.
Kong et al. (2026) studied this question.