How to Estimate the Cost of Point-of-Care CD4 Testing in Program Settings: An Example Using the Alere Pima™ Analyzer in South Africa

Autor: Sydney Rosen, Bruce A. Larson, Buyiswa Ndibongo, Matthew P. Fox, Lawrence Long, Kathryn Schnippel
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Program evaluation
Health Screening
Cost estimate
Operations research
Science Policy
Economics
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Point-of-Care Systems
030231 tropical medicine
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
lcsh:Medicine
Health Care Sector
HIV Infections
Viral diseases
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Cost Effectiveness
03 medical and health sciences
South Africa
0302 clinical medicine
Health Economics
Diagnostic Medicine
Medicine
Humans
Mass Screening
030212 general & internal medicine
Activity-based costing
lcsh:Science
Mass screening
Multidisciplinary
Cost–benefit analysis
business.industry
lcsh:R
HIV
HIV diagnosis and management
Health Care Costs
Service provider
Test (assessment)
CD4 Lymphocyte Count
AIDS
Technology Development
Technical report
Infectious diseases
lcsh:Q
Public Health
business
Research Article
Test Evaluation
Zdroj: PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 4, p e35444 (2012)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: Integrating POC CD4 testing technologies into HIV counseling and testing (HCT) programs may improve post-HIV testing linkage to care and treatment. As evaluations of these technologies in program settings continue, estimates of the costs of POC CD4 tests to the service provider will be needed and estimates have begun to be reported. Without a consistent and transparent methodology, estimates of the cost per CD4 test using POC technologies are likely to be difficult to compare and may lead to erroneous conclusions about costs and cost-effectiveness. This paper provides a step-by-step approach for estimating the cost per CD4 test from a provider's perspective. As an example, the approach is applied to one specific POC technology, the Pima Analyzer. The costing approach is illustrated with data from a mobile HCT program in Gauteng Province of South Africa. For this program, the cost per test in 2010 was estimated at $23.76 (material costs = $8.70; labor cost per test = $7.33; and equipment, insurance, and daily quality control = $7.72). Labor and equipment costs can vary widely depending on how the program operates and the number of CD4 tests completed over time. Additional costs not included in the above analysis, for on-going training, supervision, and quality control, are likely to increase further the cost per test. The main contribution of this paper is to outline a methodology for estimating the costs of incorporating POC CD4 testing technologies into an HCT program. The details of the program setting matter significantly for the cost estimate, so that such details should be clearly documented to improve the consistency, transparency, and comparability of cost estimates.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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