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Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004;158:186.

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In contrast with the experience described by Drs Foels and Terranova, in which a health plan provides nurse call center telephone triage for members at no cost to the physicians, most pediatric practices that use nurse call centers for after-hours telephone care pay a fee for these services. Although children's hospitals that sponsor call centers frequently underwrite a portion of the costs,¹ the financial burden, with charges ranging from $5 to $15 per call, can be substantial.

Unlike the health plan described by Foels and Terranova, most health plans do not provide telephone triage for members, nor do they underwrite the costs of call centers for network physician practices. Many physicians believe that health plans should provide telephone care to members at no additional cost to the physician practices. They argue that given the potential to decrease the use of costly after-hours services with telephone triage, the business . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Sanford M. Melzer, MD
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center
4800 Sand Point Way NE
PO Box 5371
Seattle, WA 98105-0371

RELATED ARTICLE

After-Hours Telephone Triage: Reducing the Financial Burden
Thomas J. Foels and Michael D. Terranova
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004;158(2):186.
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