The Hawaii Poison Center: what's it worth to you?

Benefits of the Hawaii Poison Center (HPC) to the public, providers, and third party payers are enumerated. Financial advantages to third party payers during 1996-7 were quantified by comparing costs for the home management of poisonings with alternative sources of care reported by callers, if the HPC were closed. The value for third party payers exceeded $2.5 million, greater than eight times the investment in operating the HPC, similar to national data. Since third party payers are the most visible beneficiary of cost savings, a case is made for their financial support of the HPC.