El consumo supervisado in situ permite ahorrar costes al evitar los servicios de urgencia: Un estudio de análisis de costes en Canadá

Khair et al. demuestran cómo los lugares de consumo supervisado de drogas no sólo salvan vidas, sino que también ofrecen un notable ahorro de costes en comparación con los costes de gestionar las sobredosis mediante el uso de los servicios de urgencias. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Abstract

Background and aims: We report on a cost analysis study, using population level data to determine the emergency service costs avoided from emergency overdose management at supervised consumption services (SCS). Design: We completed a cost analysis from a payer’s perspective. In this setting, there is a single-payer model of service delivery.

Setting: In Calgary, Canada, ‘Safeworks Harm Reduction Program’ was established in late 2017 and ofers 24/7 access to SCS. The facility is a nurse-led service, available for client drop-in. We conducted a cost analysis for the entire duration of the program from November 2017 to January 2020, a period of 2 years and 3 months.

Methods: We assessed costs using the following factors from government health databases: monthly operational costs of providing services for drug consumption, cost of providing ambulance pre-hospital care for clients with overdoses who could not be revived at the facility, cost of initial treatment in an emergency department, and beneft of costs averted from overdoses that were successfully managed at the SCS.

Results: The proportion of clients who have overdosed at the SCS has decreased steadily for the duration of the program. The number of overdoses that can be managed on site at the SCS has trended upward, currently 98%. Each overdose that is managed at the SCS produces approximately $1600 CAD in cost savings, with a savings of over $2.3 million for the lifetime of the program.

Conclusion: Overdose management at an SCS creates cost savings by ofsetting costs required for managing overdoses using emergency department and pre-hospital ambulance services.

Keywords: Supervised consumption services, Opioids, Overdose, Emergency services, Cost analysis