Implementation costs of telephone nurse triage service
Telephone nurse triage services are becoming increasingly common in healthcare systems worldwide. Florianópolis (Santa Catarina State, Brazil) is the first municipality in the country to provide this service in its public health system. This study adopted a quantitative, descriptive, and analytical...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Cadernos de Saúde Pública |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2023000305009&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1827904201895706624 |
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| author | Ricardo Collar Rebolho Fabiano Maury Raupp |
| author_facet | Ricardo Collar Rebolho Fabiano Maury Raupp |
| author_sort | Ricardo Collar Rebolho |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Telephone nurse triage services are becoming increasingly common in healthcare systems worldwide. Florianópolis (Santa Catarina State, Brazil) is the first municipality in the country to provide this service in its public health system. This study adopted a quantitative, descriptive, and analytical methodology to evaluate the impact of this program on overall costs of the public health system. The research examined all 33,869 calls received by the telephone triage service from March 16 to October 31 in 2020, and calculated the program costs during the period. Avoided cost were calculated by the difference between estimated consultation costs considering patient-stated first alternative and the program recommendation after triage. Analyzing only the costs for the municipality of Florianópolis, the program’s costs exceeded avoided costs by almost BRL 2.5 million during the period. By expanding the analysis to include costs of emergency department consultation - not administered by the municipality - based on data from previous research, we found that the program spares BRL 34.59 per call, a 21% cost reduction for the health system. Considering the preliminary results of the study and its limitations, it is understood that the service of telephone nurse triage can reduce costs in the healthcare system. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:24:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6713f4fcef35474280b420a5695caf88 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1678-4464 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:24:11Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cadernos de Saúde Pública |
| spelling | doaj.art-6713f4fcef35474280b420a5695caf882023-07-11T07:50:30ZengEscola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo CruzCadernos de Saúde Pública1678-44642023-04-0139310.1590/0102-311xen095522Implementation costs of telephone nurse triage serviceRicardo Collar Rebolhohttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7797-8037Fabiano Maury Raupphttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9533-2574Telephone nurse triage services are becoming increasingly common in healthcare systems worldwide. Florianópolis (Santa Catarina State, Brazil) is the first municipality in the country to provide this service in its public health system. This study adopted a quantitative, descriptive, and analytical methodology to evaluate the impact of this program on overall costs of the public health system. The research examined all 33,869 calls received by the telephone triage service from March 16 to October 31 in 2020, and calculated the program costs during the period. Avoided cost were calculated by the difference between estimated consultation costs considering patient-stated first alternative and the program recommendation after triage. Analyzing only the costs for the municipality of Florianópolis, the program’s costs exceeded avoided costs by almost BRL 2.5 million during the period. By expanding the analysis to include costs of emergency department consultation - not administered by the municipality - based on data from previous research, we found that the program spares BRL 34.59 per call, a 21% cost reduction for the health system. Considering the preliminary results of the study and its limitations, it is understood that the service of telephone nurse triage can reduce costs in the healthcare system.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2023000305009&tlng=enPrimary Health CareTelemedicineCosts and Cost AnalysisPublic Health SystemsEmergency Medical Services |
| spellingShingle | Ricardo Collar Rebolho Fabiano Maury Raupp Implementation costs of telephone nurse triage service Cadernos de Saúde Pública Primary Health Care Telemedicine Costs and Cost Analysis Public Health Systems Emergency Medical Services |
| title | Implementation costs of telephone nurse triage service |
| title_full | Implementation costs of telephone nurse triage service |
| title_fullStr | Implementation costs of telephone nurse triage service |
| title_full_unstemmed | Implementation costs of telephone nurse triage service |
| title_short | Implementation costs of telephone nurse triage service |
| title_sort | implementation costs of telephone nurse triage service |
| topic | Primary Health Care Telemedicine Costs and Cost Analysis Public Health Systems Emergency Medical Services |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2023000305009&tlng=en |
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