title: Measuring costs of data collection at village clinics by village doctors for a syndromic surveillance system-a cross sectional survey from China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies into the costs of syndromic surveillance systems are rare, especially for estimating the direct costs involved in implementing and maintaining these systems. An Integrated Surveillance System in rural China (ISSC project), with the aim of providing an early warning system for outbreaks, was implemented; village clinics were the main surveillance units. Village doctors expressed their willingness to join in the surveillance if a proper subsidy was provided. This study aims to measure the costs of data collection by village clinics to provide a reference regarding the subsidy level required for village clinics to participate in data collection.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional survey with a village clinic questionnaire and a staff questionnaire using a purposive sampling strategy. We tracked reported events using the ISSC internal database. Cost data included staff time, and the annual depreciation and opportunity costs of computers. We measured the village doctors' time costs for data collection by multiplying the number of full time employment equivalents devoted to the surveillance by the village doctors' annual salaries and benefits, which equaled their net incomes. We estimated the depreciation and opportunity costs of computers by calculating the equivalent annual computer cost and then allocating this to the surveillance based on the percentage usage.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The estimated total annual cost of collecting data was 1,423 Chinese Renminbi (RMB) in 2012 (P25 = 857, P75 = 3284), including 1,250 RMB (P25 = 656, P75 = 3000) staff time costs and 134 RMB (P25 = 101, P75 = 335) depreciation and opportunity costs of computers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The total costs of collecting data from the village clinics for the syndromic surveillance system was calculated to be low compared with the individual net income in County A.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany. hellojoeding@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany. Fei@uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fei
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. bxu@shmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Yongxiu County center for Disease Control and Prevention, Yongxiu, China. 358566299@qq.com.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Tongji Medical School, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. weirong.yan@ki.se.|Institute for Global Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. weirong.yan@ki.se.
authors.forename: Weirong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Institute for Global Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Vinod.Diwan@ki.se.
authors.forename: Vinod K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Diwan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany. rainer.sauerborn@urz.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sauerborn
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany. donghj@zju.edu.cn.|Center for Health Policy Studies, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China. donghj@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hengjin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires