COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF AN ALLERGY CONSULTATION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ASTHMA

In a large Denver HMO, a retrospective study of asthma management was reviewed. Seventy moderate to severe asthmatic patients' charts were r eviewed through April 1994. All patients admitted to the study had to be followed for at least 1 year by a primary care physician before the allergy evaluation (AE) and for at least one year of followup (F/U) a fter the AE. All patients had at least two acute care (ER) visits and/ or one hospitalization before the AE. All primary care, AE, and F/U we re done by staff physicians in the Kaiser Permanente system. The findi ngs included 1) Forty-five percent decrease (308 to 169) in the number of sick care office visits (P = 0.0001); 2) fifty-five percent decrea se (266 to 118) in acute care visits (P = 0.0001); 3) sixty-seven perc ent decrease (34 to 11) in the number of hospitalizations after the AE (P = 0.001); 4) average hospital days before AE were four days and af ter AE, 2.5 days; 5) estimated cost saving of $145,500, or $2,100 per patient.