TABLE 2.

Costs of Referring Notified Partners to a Health Department Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Clinic for Testing Compared with Testing Partners in the Field: New York, NY

	STD Clinic Testinga		Field Testingb
Description of Cost	Cost per Unit, US$ or Minutes	Cost per Test, 2009 US$	Cost per Unit, US$ or Minutes	Cost per Test, 2009 US$
Start-up costs
Fax machine, incubator, cooler bags, timers,  thermometersc	$0	$0	$1435	$6
Recurring costs
Test kits		$12d		$39e
Costs for confirmatory results	$46	$5	$70f	$4
Personnel costs
Field testing coordinator	g	$28	h	$46
Escort partner to clinic for test	120	$60	0	$0
Triage and registration	10	$4	0	$0
DIS to collect specimen	15	$8	15	$8
DIS to fill in paperwork and drop off specimen	0	$0	30	$15
DIS to return a positive result	20	$10	45	$23
Supervising DIS to accompany DIS for positive result	0	0	45	$26
DIS to return a negative result	5	$3	10	$5
Total costs
Cost per positive test		$126		$167
Cost per negative test		$119		$123

Note. Salaries were estimated for staff 2 years on board: testing coordinatorshairsp;=hairsp;$52 462, clerk for triage and registration=$31 852, phlebotomist=$38 113, interviewing staff=$45 585, supervising staff=$53 000. Times were estimated based on interviews with staff and observation in the field.

^aCosts for testing in a clinic were estimated using the number of tests conducted in the preintervention period of September 1, 2006–August 30, 2007 (95 tests, 11 positive results) for notified partners referred to a health department STD clinic.

^bCosts for testing in the field were estimated using the number of field tests conducted during the intervention period of September 1, 2008–August 30, 2009 (226 field tests, 12 positive results). 226 of 268 (84%) of the tests performed during the intervention were conducted in the field.

^cDirect materials costs for field testing were capitalized over 3 years. STD clinics had ongoing testing, so start-up costs were not included.

^dOraQuick rapid test.

^eOraSure conventional test.

^fA surcharge of $70 was assessed for all positive tests above a 4% HIV prevalence. Below the 4% threshold, the cost of a confirmatory test was included in the OraSure test cost of $39.

^g5% full-time equivalent.

^h20% full-time equivalent.