Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs: Key Costs and Components

• In Event: Community Violence

Abstract

Purpose: Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) connect survivors with credible messengers at their bedsides for crisis support, case management, counseling, and wraparound services. They hold promise in reducing reinjuries and recidivism, but establishing them requires knowledge of their costs and key components. This paper presents an HVIP cost analysis to inform future cost-benefit analyses and assist in developing data-informed budgets.
Design: Methods involve an ingredients-based costing approach, with analysis of five program budgets, staff interviews, and training and technical assistance guidebooks. Assumptions include a hospital-linked HVIP operating in a mid-sized city with 100 nine-month participants annually. A customizable costing workbook is included.
Results: At the average cost of $10,798 per participant, HVIPs cost less than a third of the medical fees associated with repeat injuries. Staffing–especially direct service providers—accounts for 80% of program budgets, followed by operations, crisis support, and transportation. Budgets increase by just 4% in the first three years of implementation.
Conclusions: HVIPs require sufficient and sustained investments to achieve their full impacts. Ensuring livable wages, competitive benefits, TTA, evaluation software, and discretionary emergency resources is achievable at an estimated $1.1 million annually—a price that is financially and socially less costly than the cycle of violence.

Authors

• Megan J. O'Toole, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund

• Kathryn Bistline, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund

• Bruce Larson, Boston University