A Modeled Analysis of Telehealth Methods for Treating Pressure Ulcers after Spinal Cord Injury

Table 3

Inputs to the cost model.

	Unit cost estimates^a
	Low	Medium	High
Staff costs (per hour)
Registered nurse (VA staff)	$33	$37	$40
Registered nurse (contractor)	$50	$55	$60
Physician (VA staff)	$108	$120	$132
Equipment (per year)
Standard telephone^b	$0	$0	$0
Digital camera	$67	$83	$100
Home videoconferencing	$3,775	$3,775	$3,775
Transmission cost^c	$0	$0	$0
Home encounters (each)
VA RN visit	$549	$610	$671
Contract nurse visit	$109	$118	$127
Interactive telehealth call	$227	$252	$277
Facility encounters: outpatient (each)
Large SCI clinic (hub) visit	$259	$630	$816
Small SCI clinic (spoke) visit	$436	$484	$532
Hub-spoke conference	$668	$742	$816
Telehealth call with patient	$84	$93	$102
Contract physician office visit	$44	$55	$66
Facility encounters: inpatient
VA surgery and recovery (total)	$38,875	$73,049	$218,067
Community SNF (30 days)	$7,503	$8,337	$9,170
Transportation (round-trip)
Wheelchair-enabled transport	$6	$138	$274

RN: Registered nurse; SCI: spinal cord injury; SNF: skilled nursing facility; VA: U.S.Department of Veterans Affairs.
^aFigures are in 2007 dollars.
^bStandard telephones are already available and no meaningful cost from these interventions could be attributed to them.
^cVA builds transmission costs into facility encounter costs.