Considering School Health Program Screening Services as a Cost Offset: A Comparison of Existing Reimbursements in One State

This paper reports results of an analysis of the approximate costs of Colorado school health program screening activities during the 1993/94 school year had they been conducted elsewhere in the public or private sectors. School nurses and health aides performed 1,161,779 screening procedures during the year, an average of 1.93 per child enrolled in school districts throughout the state. Charges for Current Procedures Terminology (CPT) codes, which correspond to school health program screening activities, were used to approximate market value. Conservative assumptions were made regarding provider skill and time requirements as well as student service utilization profiles. The general dimension of the contribution of school health screening activities was found to be impressive.