Respiratory care warrants studies for cost-effectiveness.

The need for careful cost-effectiveness studies in the field of RCS is apparent. Salaries consume most of the cost, and overtrained and expensive personnel may be saturating the work force. Costs for consumable and nonconsumable supplies have not risen out of proportion to general economic inflationary indixes. Close examination is needed of therapeutic modalities that are expensive and that stand on shaky scientific ground. However, the short-term experience of the medical center's multidisciplinary respiratory rehabilitation program has demonstrated that such programs can be worth the costs involved.