Financial issues in defining levels for HIV/AIDS research.
This article outlines the issues in cost identification and fair payment for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) research. Costs need to be better identified using activity-based costing methods to reveal the structural pattern of care. Patterns of care can be too expensive if they: (1) overutilize the hospital as the locus of care, or (2) underutilize prevention and education. Managers need to learn more about the cost identification issues payers face in designing a fair payment system. In the long run, more health care professionals would serve the cause of innovation and biomedical research if they all work together to define a stable fair funding mechanism. Payers need to learn that fair payment of indirect costs is not a bonus or a windfall profit.
Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
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Eastaugh
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000191:economics; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000191:economics*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000191:economics*; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics*; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D012106:Research / Q000191:economics; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D014481:United States