Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Northrup, Jill M.
• Miller, Ann C.
• Nardell, Edward
• Sharnprapai, Sharon
• Etkind, Sue
• Driscoll, Jeffrey
• McGarry, Michael
• Taber, Harry W.
• Elvin, Paul
• Qualls, Noreen L.
• Braden, Christopher R.

Titel

Estimated Costs of False Laboratory Diagnoses of Tuberculosis in Three Patients

Ist Teil von

• Emerging infectious diseases, 2002-11, Vol.8 (11), p.1264-1270

Ort / Verlag

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Erscheinungsjahr

2002

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We estimated direct medical and nonmedical costs associated with a false diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) caused by laboratory cross-contamination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cultures in Massachusetts in 1998 and 1999. For three patients who received misdiagnoses of active TB disease on the basis of laboratory cross-contamination, the costs totaled U.S.$32,618. Of the total, 97% was attributed to the public sector (local and state health departments, public health hospital and laboratory, and county and state correctional facilities); 3% to the private sector (physicians, hospitals, and laboratories); and <1% to the patient. Hospitalizations and inpatient tests, procedures, and TB medications accounted for 69% of costs, and outpatient TB medications accounted for 18%. The average cost per patient was $10,873 (range, $1,033-$21,306). Reducing laboratory cross-contamination and quickly identifying patients with cross-contaminated cultures can prevent unnecessary and potentially dangerous treatment regimens and anguish for the patient and financial burden to the health-care system.