Poor Classroom Air Quality Increases Medicaid Costs

WICHITA, Kan., Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Poor classroom air quality may be a major factor driving children's respiratory illnesses which are costing Medicaid more than $27.1 billion annually. Stan Brannan, President of Purifan, explained, "On January 14, 2012, CNN published a comprehensive news story written by David S. Martin titled 'Are schools making kids sick?,' and at Purifan we believe strongly that this headline is true. We also believe poor classroom air quality is a major contributor to state Medicaid budgets." Brannan continued, "Medicaid budget directors might breathe easier when school-age children do, too, because high levels of airborne particulates found in many classrooms are triggering a wide variety of costly health problems for many children, their parents and their parents' employers."

Purifan, Inc. is a Kansas-based company that manufactures a super quiet, ceiling mounted air purifier called a Purifan, which converts an ordinary ceiling fan into a powerful air purifier. Purifans have been used in more than 100 schools since 2001 to reduce high particulate levels by capturing airborne particles like mold, dust, decaying skin cells, paper dust, chalk dust and pet dander. Teachers in classrooms with Purifans installed have reported noticeable improvements in absenteeism, use of medications like inhalers and in tests scores. All of these outcomes have been proven in numerous other scientific studies around the world using a variety of air purifier technology.  

One fully equipped elementary school in Leavenworth, KS reported absenteeism in 2004 that averaged 18.23 sick days per child. After Purifans were installed in 2005, the average days missed per student dropped to 6.99, a reduction of more than 11.2 missed school days per child. Teacher sick days were also cut in half and student inhaler use logged at the nurse's station declined by 70%. Parents missed fewer work days, spent less on health costs and the school's No Child Left Behind test results improved significantly. Teachers reported children used less medication, kept up with class work, were more alert in class and achieved much higher scores on standardized tests.

Rising Medicaid costs for children are a major budget problem in every state. Purifan management believes that over the first five years, by aggressively and continuously filtering classroom air, the health costs savings for Medicaid alone could exceed 400% of the total cost. When all of the real out-of-pocket savings and costs are considered, including private insurance costs, teacher health cost impact, substitute teacher costs and the cost of parents missing work to care for sick children, the total savings of cleaner classroom air is projected by Purifan to be 25 times the cost.

The product received 11 patents and more than 45,000 Purifans are installed in homes, schools, restaurants, clubs, offices, and applications. For more information contact Purifan at 800.686.6131 or http://www.purifan.com. (A long version of this press release is available at http://www.purifan.com along with additional photos and other information.)

Contact:         

Stan Brannan, CEO
316.932.8001 x.12, [email protected]

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SOURCE Purifan, Inc.