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OCR for page 21
ORGANIZATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE
OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
MEDICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM
The system would most reasonably be administered
and supported by a mission-oriented federal entity, such
as ATSDR, which could provide core funding, draw
congressional support for the program, and work with
national-level professional societies and corporate
programs. The committee emphasizes the importance to
the organizational aspects of the system of having
continuity within one sponsoring agency and the
personnel assigned. Because the proposed system would
be of potential benefit to programs administered by the
NIOSH, ATSDR, OSHA, CDC, NIEHS, and EPA,
cooperation between these and other agencies and the
sponsoring federal entity would enhance and expand the
availability of information resources to all agencies.
A group of experts in O-E medicine, representatives
from practicing physicians, relevant industries, academic
units, medical societies, and other professional
associations such as the Association of Occupational and
Environmental Health Clinics (AOEC) and the American
Association of Poison Control Centers, should be
convened to advise the sponsoring agency about the
technical and procedural aspects of the new program.
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OCR for page 22
costs
Although funding required to establish a regional
center cannot be accurately estimated, some projection of
operating costs can be estimated by looking at the costs
of running a typical PCC as given in the Appendix. These
costs are probably low since additional staff will be
required to operate the center depending on the
geographical area served anc' the numbers of information
calls from professional health care groups. At the San
Francisco Toxic Information Center, where public
awareness and concern for the government is generally
high, the annual average load on the system has been
approximately 5,000 calls (1,000 information calls per
million population). The number of these calls that were
made by physicians was not made available. However
the Minnesota Regional Poison Center received 1,000
information calls from physicians in 1989. All of these
calls were related to hazardous substances.
J
The cost of sewing up and operating the national
center are difficult to accurately estimate; the predominant
element would be salaries for professional staff and
administrators. The national center would need data
collection and analysis experts and support staff
necessary to award and monitor grants or contracts to
regional centers. The subcommittee has made
hypothetical cost projections (See Table AM for an O-E
medical information system. In part, these estimates were
based on the number of calls mentioned above and on
the Worksafe lowa Programs, that provide training,
education, and O-E consultation in addition to information
services.
The proposed O-E system should be implemented in
phases, beginning with the creation of the national center.
The national center would fund a small number of
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
federal entity
