Safe-injection sites are cost-effective to health system: study
One facility in Toronto would incur $33.1 million in direct operating expenses over 20 years, but save $42.7 million in health-care costs because of an anticipated reduction in HIV and hepatitis C infections
The Montreal Gazette (Canada)
A new Canadian study about safe-injection sites for intravenous drug users concludes that they are cost-effective to the health-care system — an argument that is likely to be advanced as Montreal takes steps to open four such facilities in the city. Researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto carried out an analysis that compared the projected costs of maintaining supervised injection sites over a period of 20 years with the potential savings to the health system in averted HIV and hepatitis C infections. The researchers’ estimates were conservative, as they did not include other infections associated with intravenous drug use and the costs involved in treating and hospitalizing patients suffering from overdoses.
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EditionSunday, November 29, 2015
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