This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Financial support for ASPs varies widely among US children’s hospitals
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Institutional financial support for antimicrobial stewardship programs within large children’s hospitals varied widely throughout the United States, according recent survey results in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
“We surveyed [antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP)] leaders to estimate the annual ASP costs at children’s hospitals in the United States to describe the variation of annual costs incurred from pediatric ASPs,” Philip Zachariah, MD, MS, of the department of pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, and colleagues wrote. “We observed substantial variation in financial support for ASP across children’s hospitals.”
The researchers surveyed 29 large children’s hospitals via an Internet-based questionnaire, which was sent directly to the ASP director. The survey gathered data related to the amount of personnel support required for each program, equipment usage, software usage and other miscellaneous support-related costs. The researchers estimated the annual personnel-related expenses for each ASP by using the American Association of Medical Colleges Faculty survey and the National Bureau of Labor statistics. Equipment, software and miscellaneous costs were estimated using vendor prices and actual cost information provided directly through the survey.
The researchers wrote that the estimated median annual cost of an ASP was $187,400, with overall budgeted costs ranging widely from $17,000 to $388,500.
Zachariah and colleagues noted that the greater part of program budgets was dedicated to essential program personnel, such as physicians and pharmacists. They also found that hospital size was not a factor associated with the variation in cost.
“The observed variation in ASP costs was not correlated with hospital size, a potential surrogate for the number of antibiotic stewardship interventions required,” Zachariah and colleagues wrote. “This finding may indicate that financial support reflects institutional commitment rather than perceived need based on hospital characteristics.” – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts