• Sarah E Baum, Vasudha Reddy, Neil M Vora, Sharon Balter, Demetre Daskalakis, Oxiris Barbot, Mark Misener, Jennifer Rakeman, John Rojas, David Starr, HaeNa Waechter, Jane Zucker, and David Lee.
• Division of Disease Control (Mss Baum, Reddy, and Waechter, Drs Vora, Daskalakis, Rakeman, and Zucker, and Messrs Rojas and Lee), Office of First Deputy Commissioner (Dr Barbot), and Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response (Dr Misener and Mr Starr), Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, New York; Career Epidemiology Field Officer Program (Dr Vora) and Immunization Services Division (Dr Zucker), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; and Acute Communicable Disease Control Program, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, California (Dr Balter).
• J Public Health Manag Pract. 2020 Mar 1; 26 (2): 176-179.

ContextWhile the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) can use agency-wide emergency activation to respond to a hepatitis A virus-infected food handler, there is a need to identify alternative responses that conserve scarce resources.ObjectiveTo compare the costs incurred by DOHMH of responding to a hepatitis A case in restaurant food handlers using an agency-wide emergency activation (2015) versus the cost of collaborating with a private network of urgent care clinics (2017).DesignWe partially evaluate the costs incurred by DOHMH of responding to a hepatitis A case in a restaurant food handler using agency-wide emergency activation (2015) with the cost of collaborating with a private network of urgent care clinics (2017) estimated for a scenario in which DOHMH incurred the retail cost of services rendered.ResultsCosts incurred by DOHMH for emergency activation were $65 831 ($238 per restaurant employee evaluated) of which DOHMH personnel services accounted for 85% ($55 854). Costs of collaboration would have totaled $50 914 ($253 per restaurant employee evaluated) of which personnel services accounted for 6% ($3146).ConclusionsAccounting for incident size, collaborating with the clinic network was more expensive than agency-wide emergency activation, though required fewer DOHMH personnel services.

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