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Estimating the Total Annual Direct Cost of Providing Sexually Transmitted Infection and HIV Testing and Counseling for Men Who Have Sex With Men in the United States

Background The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends annual sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV testing and counseling for men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. We estimated the annual total direct medical cost of providing recommended STI and HIV testing and counseling services for MSM in the United States. Methods We included costs for 9 STI (including anatomic site–specific) tests recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis B viral infection, and herpes simplex virus type 2), office visits, and counseling. We included nongenital tests for MSM with exposure at nongenital sites. All cost data were obtained from the 2012 MarketScan outpatient claims database. Men were defined as MSM if they had a male sex partner within the last 12 months, which was estimated at 2.9% (2.6%–3.2%) of the male population in a 2012 study. All costs were updated to 2014 US dollars. Results The estimated average costs were as follows: HIV ($18 [$9–$27]), hepatitis B viral infection ($23 [$12–$35]), syphilis ($8 [$4–$11]), gonorrhea and chlamydia ($45 [$22–$67]) per anatomic site), herpes simplex virus type 2 ($27 [$14–$41]), office visit ($100 [$50–$149]), and counseling ($29 [$15–$44]). We estimated that the total annual direct cost of a universal STI and HIV testing and counseling program was $1.1 billion ($473 million–$1.7 billion) for all MSM and $756 (range, $338–$1.2 billion) when excluding office visit cost. Conclusions These estimates provide the potential costs associated with universal STI and HIV testing and counseling for MSM in the United States. This information may be useful in future cost and/or cost-effectiveness analyses that can be used to evaluate STI and HIV prevention efforts.