{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T17:50:42Z","timestamp":1781805042266,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":11,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]],"date-time":"2025-08-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755475200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100007698","name":"University of Florida","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100007698","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Pediatric asthma costs the United States healthcare system $5 billion annually. A major component of those costs are hospitalizations for acute exacerbations. This brief report examines the cost savings from emergency medical services (EMS) administration of bronchodilators and systemic corticosteroids to pediatric asthma patients, as opposed to waiting for emergency department (ED) arrival.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>This is an economic analysis of data from a study of seven EMS agencies who incorporated both bronchodilators and systemic corticosteroids in their standard operating protocols for all children ages 0\u201317\u202fyears experiencing an asthma exacerbation. Comparing hospital admission rates between children who did and did not receive those medications from EMS, we calculated the number needed to treat (NNT) to prevent one hospitalization, and using the most recently available cost estimate of a pediatric asthma hospitalization, we calculated cost savings for EMS administration of bronchodilators and systemic corticosteroids.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>For all pediatric asthma patients, the NNT was 58.8, which would avert 1,913 hospitalizations nationwide and save $6,886,800. For mild severity exacerbations, the NNT was 9, and for patients with an EMS transport time longer than 40\u202fmin, the NNT was 6. If EMS administered bronchodilators and systemic corticosteroids to all mild severity exacerbation and prolonged transport time pediatric asthma patients, then 6,833 mild severity and 500 prolonged transport time patients could avert a hospitalization, resulting in savings of $26,398,800.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>EMS administration of bronchodilators and systemic corticosteroids results in cost savings, most notably for mild severity patients and those with prolonged transport times.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1601926","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]],"date-time":"2025-08-18T13:16:02Z","timestamp":1755522962000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Cost savings of EMS administration of bronchodilators and systemic corticosteroids for pediatric asthma patients"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Jennifer","family":"Fishe","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gerard","family":"Garvan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lauren","family":"Riney","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Erik","family":"Finlay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sam","family":"Palmer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Phyllis","family":"Hendry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.1007\/s40273-018-0726-2","article-title":"The economic burden of pediatric asthma in the United States: literature review of current evidence","volume":"37","author":"Perry","year":"2019","journal-title":"PharmacoEconomics"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1080\/10903120802100167","article-title":"The epidemiology of emergency medical services use by children: an analysis of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey","volume":"12","author":"Shah","year":"2008","journal-title":"Prehosp Emerg Care"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.3109\/10903127.2013.836262","article-title":"Characteristics of the pediatric patients treated by the pediatric emergency care applied research network\u2019s affiliated EMS agencies","volume":"18","author":"Lerner","year":"2014","journal-title":"Prehosp Emerg Care"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1111\/acem.14813","article-title":"Early administration of steroids in the ambulance setting: an observational design trial (EASI-AS-ODT)","volume":"31","author":"Fishe","year":"2024","journal-title":"Acad Emerg Med"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"900","DOI":"10.1080\/10903127.2023.2234996","article-title":"EMS Administration of systemic corticosteroids to pediatric asthma patients: an analysis by severity and transport interval","volume":"27","author":"Riney","year":"2023","journal-title":"Prehosp Emerg Care"},{"key":"ref7","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"882","DOI":"10.1080\/10903127.2019.1593565","article-title":"A geospatial analysis of distances to hospitals that admit pediatric asthma patients","volume":"23","author":"Fishe","year":"2019","journal-title":"Prehosp Emerg Care"},{"key":"ref9","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1186\/s13011-023-00565-8","article-title":"A cost benefit analysis of a virtual overdose monitoring service\/mobile overdose response service: the national overdose response service","volume":"18","author":"Rioux","year":"2023","journal-title":"Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e210055","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2021.0055","article-title":"Economic analysis of Mobile integrated health care delivered by emergency medical services paramedic teams","volume":"4","author":"Xie","year":"2021","journal-title":"JAMA Netw Open"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1601926\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]],"date-time":"2025-08-18T13:16:03Z","timestamp":1755522963000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1601926\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]]},"references-count":11,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1601926"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1601926","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]]},"article-number":"1601926"}}