RESUMO
Intensive care unit (ICU) service is resource-intense, finite, and valuable. The outcome of critically ill patients has improved because of a better understanding of disease pathology, technological developments, and newer treatment modalities. These improvements have however come at a price, with ICUs contributing significantly to health budgets. Several costing tools are used to assess cost. Accurate assessment has been hampered by the lack of standardized methodology and the heterogeneity of ICUs. In a costing exercise, the level of disaggregation (micro-costing vs gross-costing) and the method of costing (top-down vs bottom-up) need to be considered. Intensive care unit costing also needs to be viewed from the perspective of stakeholders. While all stakeholders aim to provide quality health care, objectives may vary. For the public health care provider, the focus is on optimizing expenditure; for the private health care provider it is bottomline; for a patient, it is affordability; for an insurance service provider, it is minimizing payout; and for the regulator, it is ensuring quality standards and fair pricing. The field of health economics deals with the application of the principles of cost-minimization, cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, and cost-benefit to identify treatments that result in the best outcome at the lowest cost, without limiting resources to other competing interests. In the ICU setting, studies on the efficient use of available resources, and interventions that reduce cost and minimize avoidable cost, would not only translate to cost savings, lives saved, and quality-adjusted life years gained but also enable policymakers to better allocate health care resources. How to cite this article: Chacko B, Ramakrishnan N, Peter JV. Approach to Intensive Care Costing and Provision of Cost-effective Care. Indian J Crit Care Med 2023;27(12):876-887.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: A diverse country like India may have variable intensive care units (ICUs) practices at state and city levels. AIM: To gain insight into clinical services and processes of care in ICUs in India, this would help plan for potential educational and quality improvement interventions. METHODS: The Indian ICU needs assessment research group of diverse-skilled individuals was formed. A pan- India survey "Indian National ICU Needs" assessment (ININ 2018-I) was designed on google forms and deployed from July 23rd-August 25th, 2018. The survey was sent to select distribution lists of ICU providers from all 29 states and 7 union territories (UTs). In addition to emails and phone calls, social medial applications-WhatsApp™, Facebook™ and LinkedIn™ were used to remind and motivate providers. By completing and submitting the survey, providers gave their consent for research purposes. This study was deemed eligible for category-2 Institutional Review Board exempt status. RESULTS: There were total 134 adult/adult-pediatrics ICU responses from 24 (83% out of 29) states, and two (28% out of 7) UTs in 61 cities. They had median (IQR) 16 (10-25) beds and most, were mixed medical-surgical, 111(83%), with 108(81%) being adult-only ICUs. Representative responders were young, median (IQR), 38 (32-44) years age and majority, n = 108 (81%) were males. The consultants were, n = 101 (75%). A total of 77 (57%) reported to have 24 h in-house intensivist. A total of 68 (51%) ICUs reported to have either 2:1 or 2≥:1 patient:nurse ratio. More than 80% of the ICUs were open, and mixed type. Protocols followed regularly by the ICUs included sepsis care, ventilator- associated pneumonia (83% each); nutrition (82%), deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis (87%), stress ulcer prophylaxis (88%) and glycemic control (92%). Digital infrastructure was found to be poor, with only 46 % of the ICUs reporting high-speed internet availability. CONCLUSION: In this large, national, semi-structured, need-assessment survey, the need for improved manpower including; in-house intensivists, and decreasing patient-to-nurse ratios was evident. Sepsis was the most common diagnosis and quality and research initiatives to decrease sepsis mortality and ICU length of stay could be prioritized. Additionally, subsequent surveys can focus on digital infrastructure for standardized care and efficient resource utilization and enhancing compliance with existing protocols.