Table 2.

Per-call savings by specialty: Specialists reported data for 40% of the initial 5000 calls; 148 of these calls had complete information on the avoided ED visits and face-to-face consultations.

VARIABLE	CARD	HF	RM	GIM	GI	GERI	RESP	PSYC	ENDO	RENAL	TOTAL
RACE CALLS
Total no. of calls	25	7	3	24	5	6	6	14	48	10	148
No. of calls that prevented specialist consultations	14	2	2	14	0	6	1	6	37	4	86
No. of calls that prevented ED visits	8	0	1	10	3	4	5	5	11	1	48
Costs, $
Total direct costs^* (A)	2550	714	306	2448	510	612	612	1428	4896	1020	15 096
Savings, $
Direct variable cost avoidance
• Avoiding specialist consultations^†	2326	332	332	2255	0	1028	163	1269	6558	621	14 885
• Avoiding ED visits^‡	1536	0	192	1920	576	768	960	960	2112	192	9216
Total savings (B)	3862	332	524	4175	576	1796	1123	2229	8670	813	24 101
Actual savings (B - A)	1312	−382	218	1727	66	1184	511	801	3774	−207	9005
Per-call cost avoidance^§	52	−55	73	72	13	197	85	57	79	−21	61

Card—cardiology, ED—emergency department, Endo—endocrinology, Geri—geriatrics, GI—gastroenterology, GIM—general internal medicine, HF—heart failure, Psyc—adult psychiatry, RACE—Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise, Resp—respirology, RM—risk management.
↵* No. of calls × $102.12, the average fee charged for a RACE call.
↵† Direct variable savings by avoiding specialist face-to-face consultations = no. of calls that prevented specialist consultations × specialist initial consultation fee (Table 1).⁶
↵‡ Direct variable savings by avoiding ED visits = no. of calls that resulted in avoiding ED visits × ED visit fees ($192).
↵§ Actual savings divided by total no. of calls.