Factors predicting the hospital episode costs of emergency medical admissions

Factors affecting hospital costs and revenue: integrating expert opinions and literature review

Purpose

There is not enough comprehensive evidence on factors affecting hospital costs and revenue (HCR). The main objective of the current study is to identify and classify factors affecting HCR integrating experts' opinions and literature review.

Design/methodology/approach

First, a restricted literature review is conducted to identify the factors affecting HCR. In the second step, the targeted semi-structured interviews are conducted with 15 experts to identify, validate and classify the latent factors.

Findings

In addition to the factors identified through the literature review, 22 new important factors were added by the experts as the determinants of HCR, which were not pointed out in previous studies. The final model presented for the factors affecting HCR contains seven main groups, 22 subgroups and 70 variables.

Originality/value

Factors affecting HCR will provide valuable contributions for hospital budgeting, and financial and strategic planning, and they will offer an effective horizon for future research on cost-cutting strategies.

How Much Does It Cost for a Surgical ICU Bed in a Public Hospital in India

Introduction

Activity-based costing (ABC) is a costing technique that identifies the activities in an organization and assigns the cost to the activities based on the actual resources consumed for each activity. The method was used to ascertain the cost of surgical intensive care unit (SICU) bed in an institute of national importance, such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, from June 2019 to February 2021.

Objective

The present study aimed to ascertain the cost of SICU beds per day by the ABC technique. The different elements of cost were analyzed. The cost for selected patients in the SICU unit was calculated by preparing a cost sheet based on the elements of cost and studying the existing charging system.

Methods

A total of 38 cases were selected from the departments of General Surgery, Urology, Orthopedics, and Plastic surgery. Based on the ABC technique, the activity map was developed for SICU (cost center), and the time consumed together with resources for each activity was calculated with respect to human resources, consumables, medicines, and overheads. Thus, the total cost incurred by the hospital for SICU beds per day was estimated using the cost sheet analysis.

Results

The cost was calculated to be Rs. 11,241/- per day (155 USD) against the hospital charge of Rs. 35/- (<0.5 USD) for general patients and Rs. 1000/- for private ward patients. Exchange Conversion Rate used is 1 USD = 72.60 INR (2020–21).

Conclusion

The public sector hospitals in India provide health-care services for free and at a subsidized rate; hence, ascertaining the cost incurred by the hospital is necessary for policy decisions.

Sepsis in a university hospital: a prospective study for the cost analysis of patients' hospitalization

Abstract OBJECTIVE To estimate the cost of hospitalization of patients with severe sepsis or septic shock admitted or diagnosed in the Urgent and Emergency sector at a university hospital and followed until the clinical outcome. METHOD An epidemiological, prospective, observational study conducted in a public hospital in southern Brazil for the period of one year (August 2013 to August 2014). Sepsis notification forms, medical records and data of the cost sector were used for the collection of clinical and epidemiological data. RESULTS The sample comprised 95 patients, resulting in a total high cost of hospitalization (R$ 3,692,421.00), and an average of R$ 38,867.60 per patient. Over half of the total value of the treatment of sepsis (R$ 2,215,773.50) was assigned to patients who progressed to death (59.0%). The higher costs were related to discharge, diagnosis of severe sepsis, the pulmonary focus of infection and the age group of up to 59 years. CONCLUSION The high cost of the treatment of sepsis justifies investments in training actions and institution of protocols that can direct preventive actions, and optimize diagnosis and treatment in infected and septic patients.

Accuracy of clinician-clinical coder information handover following acute medical admissions: implication for using administrative datasets in clinical outcomes management

BACKGROUND

We evaluated the accuracy, limitations and potential sources of improvement in the clinical utility of the administrative dataset for acute medicine admissions.

METHODS

Accuracy of clinical coding in 8888 patient discharges following an emergency medical hospital admission to a teaching hospital and a district hospital over 3 years was ascertained by a coding accuracy audit team in respect of the primary and secondary diagnoses, morbidities and financial variance.

RESULTS

There was at least one change to the original coding in 4889 admissions (55%) and to the primary diagnosis of at least one finished consultant episodes of 1496 spells (16.8%). There were significant changes in the number of secondary diagnoses and the Charlson morbidity index following the audit. Charlson score increased in 8.2% and decreased in 2.3% of patients. An income variance of £816 977 (+5.0%) or £91.92 per patient was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

The importance and applications of coded healthcare big data within the NHS is increasing. The accuracy of coding is dependent on high-fidelity information transfer between clinicians and coders, which is prone to subjectivity, variability and error. We recommend greater involvement of clinicians as part of multidisciplinary teams to improve data accuracy, and urgent action to improve abstraction and clarity of assignment of strategic diagnoses like pneumonia and renal failure.