Our Opinion: Poison center cuts don’t add up
by Tucson Citizen on Dec. 27, 2008, under OpinionIf legislators spend less on poison experts, health costs will rise
Every few years, when state budget-cutters need to find dollars to trim, one idea seems to pop up repeatedly.
Save a quick million or two by eliminate state funding for poison control centers in Tucson and Phoenix. Poisoning isn’t all that big of an issue. And besides, if it is that important, they’ll find money somewhere else to keep operating.
It’s happened in the past and is happening again. Legislators eyeing the centers for cuts should take a lesson from history:. An investment in poison control saves money.
Go back to 1993. The state was facing a budget deficit and figured it could make a dent in the problem by eliminating funding for the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. At the time, it was the only center in the state. But supporters rallied and legislators backed down.
Fast forward to 2003., when there was another deficit and knives again were sharpened. By then, a hospital-linked poison control center had opened in Phoenix to help handle the burden imposed by a rapidly growing state.
Legislators figured they would eliminate the Tucson center and save $500,000. Again the idea was beaten back by those with foresight.
Last year, the idea again came up. State funding for the Phoenix center was cut by $250,000. The hospital running the center made up the cost, but can’t absorb any more.
Now state budget problems are worse than ever. And poison control centers again are in the cross hairs.
With legislators faced with cutting up to $3 billion over the next 18 months, spending for the two poison centers again is a target.
How is the effectiveness of the centers measured when their goals are prevention – to keep people from going to hospital emergency rooms unless necessary and to keep people from dying from poisons and bites from venomous snakes and insects? How can something that doesn’t happen be measured?
In the case of the poison control centers, their effectiveness is measured in dollars and cents.
The state invests about $2 million per year in the two poison centers. That saves nearly $49 million per year by helping people treat incidents such as bee and scorpion stings at home instead of going to a hospital emergency room.
The centers also provide expertise to doctors in the event of an emergency.
Painful choices will have to be made as the state budgets for fiscal 2009 and 2010 are cut. But cuts must be examined comprehensively. It’s illogical to cut something if the effect is higher net expenses in other areas.
That is clearly the case with Arizona’s poison control centers. They must continue to operate for the health of Arizonans and the fiscal health of the state budget.
