Comparison of COVID-19 hospitalization costs across care pathways: a patient-level time-driven activity-based costing analysis in a Brazilian hospital.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of the need to better understand where and how patient-level costs are incurred in health care organizations, as health managers and other decision-makers need to plan and quickly adapt to the increasing demand for health care services to meet patients' care needs. Time-driven activity-based costing offers a better understanding of the drivers of cost throughout the care pathway, providing information that can guide decisions on process improvement and resource optimization. This study aims to estimate COVID-19 patient-level hospital costs and to evaluate cost variability considering the in-hospital care pathways of COVID-19 management and the patient clinical classification. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study that applied time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) in a Brazilian reference center for COVID-19. Patients hospitalized during the first wave of the disease were selected for their data to be analyzed to estimate in-hospital costs. The cost information was calculated at the patient level and stratified by hospital care pathway and Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement (OSCI) category. Multivariable analyses were applied to identify predictors of cost variability in the care pathways that were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 208 patients were included in the study. Patients followed five different care pathways, of which Emergency + Ward was the most followed (n = 118, 57%). Pathways which included the intensive care unit presented a statistically significant influence on costs per patient (p <  0.001) when compared to Emergency + Ward. The median cost per patient was I$2879 (IQR 1215; 8140) and mean cost per patient was I$6818 (SD 9043). The most expensive care pathway was the ICU only, registering a median cost per patient of I$13,519 (IQR 5637; 23,373) and mean cost per patient of I$17,709 (SD 16,020). All care pathways that included the ICU unit registered a higher cost per patient. CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the first microcosting study for COVID-19 that applied the TDABC methodology and demonstrated how patient-level costs vary as a function of the care pathways followed by patients. These findings can be used to develop value reimbursement strategies that will inform sustainable health policies in middle-income countries such as Brazil.

A Mobile App for the Precise Measurement of Healthcare Provider Activity Times to Support Time-Driven Activity Based Costing Studies.

The duration of activities performed by healthcare providers are pivotal to Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) models. This study examines the use of a smartphone mobile application technology to record activity times. This study validates the accuracy of activity times recorded on a smartphone mobile application, dTool, compared to observed length of time recordings in the operating room. For analysis, we performed two one-sided tests for the measurements "Case Start" and "Case End". Equivalence bounds were specified in terms of raw mean difference of 1 min (upper) and -1 min (lower). The total number of comparisons in the observer protocol was 72 (32 "case start" patient comparisons and 40 "case end" patient comparisons measured over 45 individual OR cases). Given equivalence bounds of -1.000 and 1.000 (on a raw scale) and an alpha of 0.05, both equivalence tests were significant: provider and third-party observer protocol presented t(40) = 3.228 and p = < 0.001; observer timing protocol presented t(68.68) = 56.762, p = < 0.001. Conclusions: With this novel smartphone technology, a healthcare provider can reliably self-record activity LoT using dTool while providing patient care. Future TDABC studies incorporating this technology will reduce the potential operational barriers to implementation.

Time-driven activity-based costing as a strategy to increase efficiency: An analyses of interventional coronary procedures.

Monitoring the costs is one of the key components underlying value-based health care. This study aimed to evaluate the cost-saving opportunities of interventional coronary procedures (ICPs). Data from 90 patients submitted to elective ICP were evaluated in five Brazilian hospitals. Time-driven activity-based costing, that guides the cost estimates using the time consumed and the capacity cost rates per resource as the data input, was used to assess costs and the time spent over the care pathway. Descriptive cost analyses were followed by a labour cost-saving estimate potentially achieved by the redesign of the ICP pathway. The mean cost per patient varied from $807 to $2639. The length of the procedure phase per patient was similar among the hospitals, while the post-procedure phase presented the highest variation in length. The highest direct cost saving opportunities are concentrated in the procedure phase. By comparing the benchmark service with the most expensive one, it was estimated that redesigning physician practices could decrease 51% of the procedure cost. This application is pioneered in Brazil and demonstrates how detailed cost information can contribute to driving health care management to value by identifying cost-saving opportunities.

Development of an enterprise risk inventory for healthcare.

BACKGROUND: The first phase of an enterprise risk management (ERM) program is the identification of risks. Accurate identification is essential to a proactive and effective ERM function. The authors identified a lack of such risk identification in the literature and in practical cases when interviewing the chief risk officers from healthcare organizations. A risk inventory specific to healthcare organizations that includes detailed risk scenarios and risk impacts currently does not exist. Thus, the objective of this research is to develop an enterprise risk inventory for healthcare organizations to create a common understanding of how each type of risk impacts a healthcare organization. METHOD: ERM guidelines and data from 15 interviews with chief risk officers were analyzed to create the risk inventory. The identified risks were confirmed through a survey of risk managers from a range of global healthcare organizations during the ASHRM conference in 2017. Descriptive statistics were developed and cluster analysis was performed using the survey results. RESULTS: The risk inventory includes 28 risks and their specific risk scenarios. Cyberattack was ranked as the principal risk by the participants, followed by sentinel events and risks associated with human capital management (organizational culture, use of electronic medical records and physician wellness). The data analysis showed that the specific characteristics of the survey participants, such as the length of time working in risk management, the size of the organization, and the presence of a school of medicine, do not impact an individual's opinion of the importance of the risks identified. A personal background in risk management (clinical or enterprise) was a characteristic that showed a small difference in the perceived importance of the risks from the proposed risk inventory. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to defining specific risk scenarios, the enterprise risk inventory presented in this research can contribute to guiding the risk identification phase of an ERM program and thereby support the development of a risk culture. Patient data security in hospitals that operate with high levels of technology is fundamental to delivering high quality and safe care to patients. At the top of the risk ranking, the identification of cyberattacks reflects the importance that healthcare risk managers place on this risk by allocating time and other resources. Exploring opportunities to improve cyber risk management and evaluating the benefits of using the risk inventory at the beginning of the risk identification phase in an ERM program are suggestions for future studies.

Análise de demandas de pacientes e profissionais de saúde quanto à poltrona utilizada para a assistência do paciente / Analysis of the demands of patients and healthcare professionals regarding the armchair used in patient care

Introdução: Sistemáticas transversais permitem identificar soluções tecnológicas que melhor atendam às necessidades dos usuários, sendo assim críticas para otimização de recursos financeiros e melhoria da qualidade do serviço prestado. Dessa forma, o presente projeto de pesquisa teve por objetivo realizar uma análise transversal das demandas dos usuários finais, profissionais da saúde e pacientes, quanto às poltronas utilizadas para assistência no Serviço de Onco-Hematologia do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Métodos: Entrevistas semiestruturadas com perguntas abertas foram conduzidas no próprio local de atendimento em cada unidade de saúde: Ambulatório de Quimioterapia, Banco de Sangue e Hospital Dia. A população da pesquisa foi definida por meio da identificação dos usuários com forte interação com a poltrona para assistência e seu tamanho considerando o critério de ponto de saturação. Resultados: Foram entrevistados 15 profissionais de saúde e 16 pacientes entre setembro de 2015 e janeiro de 2016. Verificou-se que o conforto foi a demanda mais indicada por profissionais de saúde e pacientes, sendo as demais demandas similares, independentemente do tempo de atendimento, número de pacientes por turno ou carga horária de trabalho. Conclusões: Acredita-se que a análise transversal das demandas dos usuários possibilita a melhora da qualidade da assistência e otimização do emprego de recursos financeiros por permitir a seleção de soluções tecnológicas que melhor atendem às necessidades dos usuários finais, tais como pacientes e profissionais de saúde (AU)

Introduction: The cross-sectional analysis allows managers to identify technological solutions that best meet users' needs, which are critical for optimizing costs and improving service quality. Therefore, this paper aimed at applying a cross-sectional analysis to identify the demands of end users, healthcare professionals, and patients, related to the armchairs available at the Onco-Hematology department of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted using open questions at each healthcare facility: Chemotherapy Clinic, Blood Bank, and Day Hospital. The study group was selected by identifying users with strong interaction with the armchair and the population sample size was defined by the saturation point criterion. Results: A total of 15 health professionals and 16 patients were interviewed between September 2015 and January 2016. It was observed that comfort was the most indicated demand both by healthcare professionals and patients, and the remaining demands were similar, regardless of duration of care, number of patients per shift, and working hours. Conclusions: A cross-sectional analysis of users' demands improves the quality of care provided and cost optimization rates, as it enables the selection of technological solutions better suited to the needs of end users, such as patients and healthcare professionals (AU)