Financial Cost | Economic Cost | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
(April 2016–April 2017) | (April 2016–April 2017) | |||
Cost, US$ | % of Total | Cost, US$ | % of Total | |
Total fixed costsb | ||||
Preparation and planningc | 18,822.57 | 37.98% | 41,434.95 | 44.93% |
Program managementd | 23,368.10 | 47.16% | 30,898.17 | 33.51% |
Technology (server, telephone line, SMS system) | 6,633.81 | 13.39% | 6,633.81 | 7.19% |
Total variable costse | ||||
SMSf | 728.28 | 1.47% | 728.28 | 0.79% |
Coursesg | 0 | 0.00% | 12,516.91 | 13.57% |
Total costs | ||||
Total costs | 49,552.76 | 92,212.12 | ||
Total fixed costs | 48,824.48 | 78,966.93 | ||
Total variable costs | 728.28 | 13,245.19 |
Abbreviations: mCME, mobile continuing medical education; SMS, short message service.
↵a All figures are presented in real 2016 U.S. dollars.
↵b Fixed costs included program preparation and planning, program management, technology (i.e., SMS system), and travel and food/accommodation related to program preparation and planning and program management.
↵c Preparation and planning refers to costs during the prep period for the trial from April 1, 2016 to October 30, 2016.
↵d Program implementation and management refers to costs during the implementation period for the trial from November 1, 2016 to April 30, 2017.
↵e Variable costs included the number of text messages, which would vary depending on the number of clinicians in the program, and the number of courses, which would vary depending on the course topic. For mCME 2.0, there were 12 courses focused on HIV/AIDS.19
↵f Each SMS was US$0.025. The control group was sent one SMS per week, and the intervention group received 3 SMS every day during the 6-month intervention.
↵g Cost of online course development is based on information provided by in-country partners.