title: The cost of integrating a physical activity counselor in the primary health care team.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This article assesses direct costs of integrating a physical activity counselor (PAC) into primary health care teams to improve physical activity levels of inactive patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A monthly cost analysis was conducted using data from 120 inactive patients, aged 18 to 69 years, who were recruited from a community-based family medicine practice. Relevant cost items for the intensive counseling group included (1) office expenses; (2) equipment purchases; (3) operating costs; (4) costs of training the PAC; and (5) labor costs. Physical and human capital were amortized over a 5-year horizon at a discount rate of 5%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Integrating a PAC into the primary health care team incurred an estimated one-time cost of CA$91.43 per participant per month. Results were very sensitive to the number of patients counseled.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The costs associated with the intervention are lower than many other intervention studies attempting to improve population physical activity levels. Demonstrating this competitive cost base should encourage additional research to assess the effectiveness of integrating a PAC into primary health care teams to promote active living among patients who do not meet recommended physical activity levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Uiversity of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. whogg@uottawa.ca
authors.forename: William E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Hogg
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Angus
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fortier
authors.forename: Jianwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Tracey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: Ronald J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Sigal
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blanchard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003376:Counseling / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000191:economics*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D055815:Young Adult