Cost Analysis of the Developmental Phase of an Automated Multiphasic Health Testing Facility

A UTOMATED multiphasic health testing is the utilization of automated equipment, computers, and allied health personnel to perform a battery of physiological and biochemical tests and measurements which, in combination with a self-administered medical history, lead to an integrated analysis of the data and a synthesized health report to a physician. The primary objective of this procedure is to help alter the natural course of an asymptomatic person's disease in a favorable direction by providing the physician with information that will lead to early detection of disease. Progress toward optimal refinement of this community service in preventive health is contingent on the program's ability to assess and control (a) the efficiency of the variety of services and tests, (b) the acceptance of such services by the health professions and the consumer, and (c) the ultimate effect of this complementary health delivery system on the well-being of the person served. The objective of this study is to assess, through cost analysis, the efficiency of the battery of tests performed at the Tulane Health Maintenance Project-THMP (1). In its developmental phase, THMP's immediate goal was the establishment of an ongoing unit which would facilitate the application of multiphasic examinations professionally and efficiently to large numbers of asymptomatic adult persons of the metropolitan New Orleans area.