The economic impact of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) remains unclear. We developed an economic simulation model to quantify the costs associated with CA-MRSA infection from the societal and third-party payer perspectives. A single CA-MRSA case costs third-party payers $2,277 – $3,200 and society $7,070 – $20,489, depending on patient age. In the United States (US), CA-MRSA imposes an annual burden of $478 million - 2.2 billion on third-party payers and $1.4 billion - 13.8 billion on society, depending on the CA-MRSA definitions and incidences. The US jail system and Army may be experiencing annual total costs of $7 – 11 million ($6 – 10 million direct medical costs) and $15 – 36 million ($14 – 32 million), respectively. Hospitalization rates and mortality are important cost drivers. CA-MRSA confers a substantial economic burden to third-party payers and society, with CA-MRSA-attributable productivity losses being major contributors to the total societal economic burden. Although decreasing transmission and infection incidence would decrease costs, even if transmission were to continue at present levels, early identification and appropriate treatment of CA-MRSA infections before they progress could save considerable costs.
Background Hospital infection control strategies and programs may not consider control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in nursing homes in a county. Methods Using our Regional Healthcare Ecosystem Analyst (RHEA), we augmented our existing agent-based model of all hospitals in Orange County (OC), California, by adding all nursing homes and then simulated MRSA outbreaks in various healthcare facilities. Results The addition of nursing homes substantially changed MRSA transmission dynamics throughout the County. The presence of nursing homes substantially potentiated the effects of hospital outbreaks on other hospitals, leading to an average 46.2% (range: 3.3–156.1%) relative increase above and beyond the impact when only hospitals are included for an outbreak in OC’s largest hospital. An outbreak in the largest hospital affected all other hospitals (average 2.1% relative prevalence increase) and the majority (~90%) of nursing homes (average 3.2% relative increase) after six months. An outbreak in the largest nursing home had effects on multiple OC hospitals, increasing MRSA prevalence in directly connected hospitals by an average 0.3% and in hospitals not directly connected via patient transfers by an average 0.1% after six months. A nursing home outbreak also had some effect on MRSA prevalence in other nursing homes. Conclusions Nursing homes, even those not connected by direct patient transfers, may be a vital component of a hospital’s infection control strategy. To achieve effective control, a hospital may want to better understand how regional nursing homes and hospitals are connected via both direct and indirect (with intervening stays at home) patient sharing.
The aim of this study was to identify the qualities of a "good" physiotherapist and to ascertain the characteristics of good and bad experiences in private practice physiotherapy from the patients' perspective. The nominal group technique was implemented with separate groups of patients (n = 26) and revealed that communication ability, professional behaviour and organisational ability, and characteristics of the service provided were the main qualities of a "good" physiotherapist. In particular, communication ability of the physiotherapist was ranked first or second in importance by all groups of patients. Good experiences in physiotherapy were most often attributed to effective communication by the physiotherapist, while bad experiences most often related to dissatisfaction with the service followed by poor physiotherapist communication. Based on the findings from this study, we suggest physiotherapists should actively seek to involve patients in their management. To do this effectively, physiotherapists would benefit from further training in communication skills to ensure that they can successfully adopt a patient-centred approach and to optimise the physiotherapist-patient interaction in private practice physiotherapy.
BackgroundDuring the 2009 H1N1 influenza epidemic, policy makers debated over whether, when, and how long to close schools. While closing schools could have reduced influenza transmission thereby preventing cases, deaths, and health care costs, it may also have incurred substantial costs from increased childcare needs and lost productivity by teachers and other school employees.MethodsA combination of agent-based and Monte Carlo economic simulation modeling was used to determine the cost-benefit of closing schools (vs. not closing schools) for different durations (range: 1 to 8 weeks) and symptomatic case incidence triggers (range: 1 to 30) for the state of Pennsylvania during the 2009 H1N1 epidemic. Different scenarios varied the basic reproductive rate (R0) from 1.2, 1.6, to 2.0 and used case-hospitalization and case-fatality rates from the 2009 epidemic. Additional analyses determined the cost per influenza case averted of implementing school closure.ResultsFor all scenarios explored, closing schools resulted in substantially higher net costs than not closing schools. For R0 = 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 epidemics, closing schools for 8 weeks would have resulted in median net costs of $21.0 billion (95% Range: $8.0 - $45.3 billion). The median cost per influenza case averted would have been $14,185 ($5,423 - $30,565) for R0 = 1.2, $25,253 ($9,501 - $53,461) for R0 = 1.6, and $23,483 ($8,870 - $50,926) for R0 = 2.0.ConclusionsOur study suggests that closing schools during the 2009 H1N1 epidemic could have resulted in substantial costs to society as the potential costs of lost productivity and childcare could have far outweighed the cost savings in preventing influenza cases.
public health preparedness ■ Abstract Threats to Americans' health-including chronic disease, emerging infectious disease, and bioterrorism-are present and growing, and the public health system is responsible for addressing these challenges. Public health systems in the United States are built on an infrastructure of workforce, information systems, and organizational capacity; in each of these areas, however, serious deficits have been well documented. Here we draw on two 2003 Institute of Medicine reports and present evidence for current threats and the weakness of our public health infrastructure. We describe major initiatives to systematically assess, invest in, rebuild, and evaluate workforce competency, information systems, and organizational capacity through public policy making, practical initiatives, and practice-oriented research. These initiatives are based on applied science and a shared federal-state approach to public accountability. We conclude that a newly strengthened public health infrastructure must be sustained in the future through a balancing of the values inherent in the federal system.
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