Health care cost savings from Australian Poisons Information Centre advice for low risk exposure calls: SNAPSHOT 2.

Introduction: To estimate cost savings from the Australian Poisons Information Centres (PIC) through reductions in unnecessary health resources following unintentional low toxicity poisonings.Methods: Two telephone surveys were conducted. The first to PIC callers over a one-week period about unintentional exposures where the callers' alternate course of action in the hypothetical situation in which the PIC did not exist was questioned. The second survey to determine the proportion of callers followed PIC advice. We estimated cost savings associated with instances where individuals acted on advice not to present to hospital, when they indicated they would have otherwise as well as savings from preventing unnecessarily utilisation of medical resources. Database records of unintentional poisonings from all Australian PICs for 2017 were used.Results: A total of 958 consecutive callers were surveyed. PIC advised 91% of callers to stay at home, remaining callers were referred to hospital (5%), to their GP (3%) or given other recommended management advice (1%). PIC advice was followed by 97.6% of callers. In PIC absence, 22% of callers who were advised to stay home would have presented to hospital (3% via ambulance), 8% would visit their General Practitioner (GP) and only 9% would stay at home. In 2017, PICs were called about 94,913 unintentional poisonings; and PICs generated at least $10.1 million in annual savings.Conclusion: In 2017, PICs provided at least a three-fold return on investment for every dollar invested, demonstrating that PICs are a highly cost effective service.

Costos y estados de ánimo asociados a la gestión de información, año 2008 / Costs and moods associated to the management of information: 2008

Se realizó un estudio exploratorio, descriptivo observacional con la finalidad de obtener información relacionada con la búsqueda de la información y los costos asociados a la misma, así como algunas variables emocionales que rodean este fenómeno. Toda la información se basó en la observación directa de un individuo durante diez horas consecutivas utilizando una herramienta de búsqueda especialmente diseñada y una sección de entrevista con dos usuarios para indagar sobre el estado de ánimo en los aspectos emocionales positivos y negativos asociados al evento estudiado. Se encontró un mayor número de fracasos en la descarga de los documentos según el tamaño de los mismos, y un incremento de los costos en las horas de la mañana coincidiendo con el mayor tráfico de usuarios gestionando información, las emociones agradables expresadas por los entrevistados fueron: alegria, felicidad y placer cuando lograban descargar los documentos y odio, indiferencia, ira y tristeza cuando ocurría lo contrario. Se recomienda desplazar el horario de gestionar información a horas posteriores a las seis de la tarde para lograr la mayor eficiencia económica(AU)

It was performed an exploratory, descriptive and observational study with the objective to know about the searching of information and costs associated to it, as well as some emotional variables that are included in this phenomenom. The whole information was based on the direct observation of an individual during ten hours, using a search tool specially designed for that purpose and an interview section with two users to inquire about moods in the positive and negative emotional aspects associated to the studied event. It was found a greater number of fails in the download of documents, taking into account their length and also an increase of costs in the morning hours coinciding with the greatest users traffic in the management of information. The pleasant emotions expressed by the interviewed were: joy, happiness and pleasure when they could donload the documents and they felt hate, indiference, angry and sadness when the opposite happened. It was recommended to postpone the time for the information management to 6 pm to obtain a better economic efficiency(EU)

Poison information centers save lives ... and money!

Poison information centers provide telephone advice on the treatment of poisonings to the lay public and medical professionals. In general, the services of a poison center are provided freely to the caller. However, poison center services are labor intensive and expensive since most poison centers utilize medical professionals to provide service and are available for consultation 24 hours/day. The failure of poison centers to produce revenue has made them vulnerable to closure. Poison centers provide a vital service to society by reducing morbidity and mortality. Often overlooked are the financial benefits of poison centers. By preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and by providing expert advice that may reduce the use of expensive antidotes and lengthy hospital admissions, poison centers save an estimated $6.50 for every dollar invested in their operation. The cost-effectiveness of poison centers is supported by a multitude of research. All entities that benefit from poison center services should assist in the financial support of poison centers.

Computerized pediatric telephone triage and advice programs at children's hospitals: operating and financial characteristics.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the operating characteristics, financial performance, and perceived value of computerized children's hospital-based telephone triage and advice (TTA) programs. DESIGN: A written survey of all 32 children's hospital-based TTA programs in the United States that used the same proprietary pediatric TTA software product for at least 6 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The expense, revenues, and perceived value of children's hospital-based TTA programs. RESULTS: Of 30 programs (94%) responding, 27 (90%) were eligible for the study and reported on their experience with nearly 1.3 million TTA calls over a 12-month period. Programs provided pediatric TTA services for 1560 physicians, serving an average of 82 physicians (range, 10-340 physicians) and answering 38880 calls (range, 8500-140000 calls) annually. The mean call duration was 11.3 minutes and the estimated mean total expense per call was $12.45. Of programs charging fees for TTA services, 16 (59%) used a per-call fee and 7 (26%) used a monthly service fee. All respondents indicated that fees did not cover all associated costs. Telephone triage and advice programs, when examined on a stand-alone basis, were all operating with annual deficits (mean, $447000; median, $325000; range, $74000-$1.3 million), supported by the sponsoring children's hospitals and their companion programs. Using a 3-point Likert scale, the TTA program managers rated the value of the TTA program very highly as a mechanism for marketing to physicians (2.85) and increasing physician (2.92) and patient (2.80) satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Children's hospital-based TTA programs operate at substantial financial deficits. Ongoing support of these programs may derive from the perception that they are a valuable mechanism for marketing and increase patient and physician satisfaction. Children's hospitals should develop strategies to ensure the long-term financial viability of TTA programs or they may have to discontinue these services.

Data warehousing as a healthcare business solution.

Because of the trend toward consolidation in the healthcare field, many organizations have massive amounts of data stored in various information systems organizationwide, but access to the data by end users may be difficult. Healthcare organizations are being pressured to provide managers easy access to the data needed for critical decision making. One solution many organizations are turning to is implementing decision-support data warehouses. A data warehouse instantly delivers information directly to end users, freeing healthcare information systems staff for strategic operations. If designed appropriately, data warehouses can be a cost-effective tool for business analysis and decision support.