Cost Analysis & Patient Satisfaction of Health Care Advisor

The purpose of this research study is to determine if a health care advisor program is cost effective while providing satisfactory patient care. This non-experimental research will seek to answer the following research questions: (1) How does the implementation of a health care advisor program affect the cost of delivering outpatient health care to military beneficiaries? (2) To what extent are participants in the health care advisor program satisfied with the health care advice? (3) What is the volume and type of calls by time of day in a 24 hour period seven days a week of a health care advisor program? The sample will consist of 380 adults who call the health care advisor program, and represent the nth caller as defined by a random initial selection using a table of numbers. Each caller of the program who falls in the sample will be informed of the study and asked to complete a 30 item patient satisfaction questionnaire. The questionnaire will then be sent to the caller with a 2 week reminder. Reliability of the questionnaire will be done using internal consistency and Cronbach's alpha. Validity of the questionnaire will be done using a factor analysis. Data analysis will consist of descriptive statistics and correlational analysis. Results from this research will be used to determine the cost benefit ratio of Reynolds Army Community Hospital in implementing a 24 hour seven day a week health care advisor program. Data from this research will seek to determine if the military community is satisfied with this new approach to implementing and accessing health care and to determine the time of day and number of days per week the service should be provided. The results will also serve to guide other Department of Defense health care facilities in the development and implementation of a health care advisor program.