Consultations and Health Care Costs Related to Child Development Services by Group Assignment During the 6-Month Trial Intervention Period, 2021
Autism
POSITIVE, HOLIDAY, INTERACTION
Abbreviations: A$, Australian dollars; iBASIS-VIPP, Video Interaction to Promote Positive Parenting intervention within the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings; MBS, Medicare Benefits Schedule; NA, not applicable; TAU, treatment as usual.The mean iBASIS-VIPP consultation cost per session was A $600.75 (US $422.33). This was calculated using a mean 4.5 hours per session, 1.5 hours for program delivery, 1 hour of driving time, and 2 hours of clinical administration time (video review, arranging appointments, and so on) at A $133.50 (US $93.85) per hour. Hourly cost was based on a mean salary of A $92 000 (US $64 676) plus 20% wage on-costs and 30% overhead, 43 working weeks for the occupational therapist for 52 less 4 weeks of annual leave, 2 weeks of public holiday, 2 weeks of sick leave, and 1 week of other leave and assuming 5 hours of clinic-related time per day.Mean round-trip distance of 20 km/session and A $0.72 (US $0.51) per kilometer.The cost for a laptop computer, video camera plus accessories, and toys was A $750 (US $527) per clinician × 4.Accessed in December 2021. A clinician may charge more than the schedule fee; the group workshop session fee is for group therapy by a psychologist. Allied health is MBS item 82010 or item 82020 for an occupational therapist, speech pathologist, or physiotherapist.See eAppendix 2 in The mean cost for clinical services was A $5059 (US $3556) per child in the iBASIS-VIPP group and A $346 ($243) per child in the TAU group, delivering a mean number of 12.3 and 3.8 services per child, respectively. Costs of training and supervision for iBASIS-VIPP were estimated at A $83 544 (US $58 731) and A $418 (US $295) per child.