Core 116

Costs of Bridgeport NEP Plan

Although this program will undoubtedly be costly, Public Health officials and the Connecticut Government must remember to think of the prices comparatively. According to Drs. Pinkerton and Holtgrave in “Updates of cost illness and quality of life estimates for use in economic evaluations of HIV prevention programs,” the lifetime cost of one HIV infection is estimated to be at least $195,000, “equal to the cost of well over 2 million syringes” (21). Furthermore, as pointed out by the study of the CHCV, a decrease in the number of IDU AIDS patients will lead to a decrease in emergency department use, which will, in turn, decrease the cost to society. As Drs. Pollack, Khoshnood, Blankenship, and Altice point out “IDUs…often rely on episodic care in emergency departments or require expensive hospitalization when they present with advanced disease states [like HIV/AIDS]” (17), and therefore end up costing the Hospital and the state money. By decreasing the number of visits to the ED, the government could save money. And, indeed, evidence shows that the CHCV (and other programs like it) are often successful in decrease ED visits. From 1996 to 1998, for example, non-van-users visited the ED 319 times, but for van users it was 229, which shows a “more than 20% decline in emergency department visits” (17).

Prior to the implementation of the Bridgeport NEP van program, the staff members and even the Public Health officials should remember to enlist the cooperation of the Bridgeport police. Although such cooperation can be difficult to acquire, as the “Effects of an Intensive Street-Level Police Intervention on Syringe Exchange Program in Philadelphia, PA” suggests, it is necessary for the success of the program and is certainly possible due to the existence of laws which directly legalize the sale of sterile injection equipment and SEP programs (21).