Evaluating the Costs of Implementing the Florida Infectious Disease Elimination Act (IDEA) Needle Exchange Program and the Economic Implications for Statewide Adoption

Tyler Bartholomew conducted an economic analysis of Florida’s Infectious Disease Elimination Act (IDEA) Syringe Exchange Program located in Miami. Using clinical data from IDEA Exchange participants, he estimated the costs of the IDEA fixed syringe exchange program and the mobile syringe exchange program from the healthcare and societal perspectives. He also estimated the cost of ancillary services such as naloxone distribution and an onsite wound care clinic. The results of his pilot study will support the evaluation of broader implementation of syringe exchange services across the state Florida.

Tyler Bartholomew is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Previously, he was a research assistant in the Biobehavioral Statistics Group, run by Daniel Feaster, and University of Miami’s Harm Reduction Group, run by Hansel Tookes, where he provided statistical support to the IDEA Exchange, Florida’s first and only legal syringe services program. Through this co-mentorship, Bartholomew obtained four grants as PI/Co-PI to assess implementation of the IDEA SSP, including two Ending the HIV Epidemic grants to examine implementation of HIV Telemedicine, mobile PrEP services, and medication-assisted treatment (MAT) at the IDEA SSP. Bartholomew also served as the student legislative lead for Dr. Tookes in the advocacy of IDEA 2019, a bill passed in 2019 that allows all Florida counties to implement syringe service programs.