The development of inpatient cost and nursing service weights in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: The current healthcare sector consists of diverse services to accommodate the high demands and expectations of the users. Nursing plays a major role in catering to these demands and expectations, but nursing costs and service weights are underestimated. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the nursing costs and service weights as well as identify the factors that influence these costs. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) using 85,042 hospital discharges from 2009 to 2012. A casemix costing method using the step-down approach was used to derive the nursing costs and service weights. The cost analysis was performed using the hospital data obtained from five departments of the UKMMC: Finance, Human Resource, Nursing Management, Maintenance and Medical Information. The costing data were trimmed using a low trim point and high trim point (L3H3) method. RESULTS: The highest nursing cost and service weights for medical cases were from F-4-13-II (bipolar disorders including mania - moderate, RM6,129; 4.9871). The highest nursing cost and service weights for surgical cases were from G-1-11-III (ventricular shunt - major, RM9,694; 7.8880). In obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G), the highest nursing cost and service weights were from O-6-10-III (caesarean section - major, RM2,515; 2.0467). Finally, the highest nursing cost and service weights for paediatric were from P-8-08-II (neonate birthweight > 2499 g with respiratory distress syndrome congenital pneumonia - moderate, RM1,300; 1.0582). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that nursing hours were significantly related to the following factors: length of stay (ß = 7.6, p < 0.05), adult (ß = - 6.0, p < 0.05), severity level I (ß = - 3.2, p < 0.05), severity level III (ß = 7.3, p < 0.05), male gender (ß = - 4.2, p < 0.05), and the elderly (ß = - 0.5, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that nursing cost and service weights were higher in surgical cases compared to other disciplines such as medical, O&G and paediatric. This is possible as there are significant differences in the nursing activities and work processes between wards and specialities.

The Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC): a new casemix classification for residential aged care.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a casemix classification to underpin a new funding model for residential aged care in Australia. DESIGN, SETTING: Cross-sectional study of resident characteristics in thirty non-government residential aged care facilities in Melbourne, the Hunter region of New South Wales, and northern Queensland, March 2018 - June 2018. PARTICIPANTS: 1877 aged care residents and 1600 residential aged care staff. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC), a casemix classification for residential aged care based on the attributes of aged care residents that best predict their need for care: frailty, mobility, motor function, cognition, behaviour, and technical nursing needs. RESULTS: The AN-ACC comprises 13 aged care resident classes reflecting differences in resource use. Apart from the class that included palliative care patients, the primary branches were defined by the capacity for mobility; further classification is based on physical capacity, cognitive function, mental health problems, and behaviour. The statistical performance of the AN-ACC was good, as measured by the reduction in variation statistic (RIV; 0.52) and class-specific coefficients of variation. The statistical performance and clinical acceptability of AN-ACC compare favourably with overseas casemix models, and it is better than the current Australian aged care funding model, the Aged Care Funding Instrument (64 classes; RIV, 0.20). CONCLUSIONS: The care burden associated with frailty, mobility, function, cognition, behaviour and technical nursing needs drives residential aged care resource use. The AN-ACC is sufficiently robust for estimating the funding and staffing requirements of residential aged care facilities in Australia.

Effect of the economic crisis on the use of health and home care services among Spanish COPD patients.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of disability and death worldwide. Consequently, COPD patients are frequent users of health and social resources. Therefore, they are highly vulnerable to decreases in investment in healthcare services. We aimed to describe the utilization of health and home care services among Spanish COPD patients during the economic crisis to identify factors independently associated with changes in the utilization of these services and to study the time trends from 2009 to 2014. Methods: We used data from the European Health Interview Surveys for Spain (EHSS) conducted between 2009/2010 (n=22,188) and 2014 (n=22,842). We included responses from adults with COPD aged 40 years or over. Dependent variables included self-reported hospitalizations during the previous year, general practitioner (GP) visits during the last 4 weeks, other health care services used during the previous year (nursing, rehabilitation, and psychological services), and home care services use during the previous year. Independent variables included demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, health status variables, and lifestyles. Results: We identified 1,328 and 1,008 COPD patients from EHSS 2009 and EHSS 2014, respectively. We observed a significant increase in non-GP services use (30.6% in 2009 vs 39.11% in 2014; p<0.001). No changes were found for hospitalizations, GP visits, and home care services use over time. Multivariable models showed that associated factors with a higher use included any chronic comorbidity and worse self-rated health. Physical activity was a strong predictor of fewer hospitalizations and less home care service use. Female sex was associated with significantly fewer hospitalizations (OR 0.72; 95% CI 0.58-0.89). Conclusion: We found an increase in the use of non-GP services (nursing, rehabilitation, and psychological) but not in other health and home care services. The only differences in hospitalizations were observed according to sex. Therefore, the effect of the economic crisis, if any, seems to have been of small magnitude.

Societal costs of diabetes mellitus in Denmark.

AIM: To provide comprehensive real-world evidence on societal diabetes-attributable costs in Denmark. METHODS: National register data are linked on an individual level through unique central personal registration numbers in Denmark. All patients in the Danish National Diabetes Register in 2011 (N = 318 729) were included in this study. Complication status was defined according to data from the Danish National Hospital Register. Diabetes-attributable costs were calculated as the difference between costs of patients with diabetes and the expected costs given the annual resource consumption of the diabetes-free population. RESULTS: Societal costs attributable to diabetes were estimated to be at least 4.27 billion EUR in 2011, corresponding to 14,349 EUR per patient-year. A twofold higher healthcare resource usage was found for patients with diabetes as compared with the diabetes-free population. Attributable costs, grouped according to different components, were 732 million EUR for primary and secondary care services, 153 million EUR for pharmaceutical drugs, 851 million EUR for nursing services, 1.77 billion EUR in lost productivity and 761 million EUR for additional costs. A steep increase in diabetes-attributable costs was found for patients with major complications compared with patients without complications across all cost components. For attributable healthcare costs this increase was estimated to be 6,992 EUR per person-year after controlling for potential confounders. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly half of the total costs of patients with diabetes can be attributed directly to their diabetes. The majority of costs are incurred among patients with major complications pointing to the importance of secondary preventive efforts among patients with diabetes.

Building Economic Value for Professional Nurses at the Gateway to the Health Care System.

An enhanced role for professional nurses as directed care practitioners will lead to improved effectiveness of the health care system, establish independent economic value for nursing activities, and use the full range of nurses' expertise.

Utilisation and costs of nursing agencies in the South African public health sector, 2005-2010.

BACKGROUND: Globally, insufficient information exists on the costs of nursing agencies, which are temporary employment service providers that supply nurses to health establishments and/or private individuals. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine the utilisation and direct costs of nursing agencies in the South African public health sector. DESIGN: A survey of all nine provincial health departments was conducted to determine utilisation and management of nursing agencies. The costs of nursing agencies were assumed to be equivalent to expenditure. Provincial health expenditure was obtained for five financial years (2005/6-2009/10) from the national Basic Accounting System database, and analysed using Microsoft Excel. Each of the 166,466 expenditure line items was coded. The total personnel and nursing agency expenditure was calculated for each financial year and for each province. Nursing agency expenditure as a percentage of the total personnel expenditure was then calculated. The nursing agency expenditure for South Africa is the total of all provincial expenditure. The 2009/10 annual government salary scales for different categories of nurses were used to calculate the number of permanent nurses who could have been employed in lieu of agency expenditure. All expenditure is expressed in South African rands (R; US$1 ∼ R7, 2010 prices). RESULTS: Only five provinces reported utilisation of nursing agencies, but all provinces showed agency expenditure. In the 2009/10 financial year, R1.49 billion (US$212.64 million) was spent on nursing agencies in the public health sector. In the same year, agency expenditure ranged from a low of R36.45 million (US$5.20 million) in Mpumalanga Province (mixed urban-rural) to a high of R356.43 million (US$50.92 million) in the Eastern Cape Province (mixed urban-rural). Agency expenditure as a percentage of personnel expenditure ranged from 0.96% in KwaZulu-Natal Province (mixed urban-rural) to 11.96% in the Northern Cape Province (rural). In that financial year, a total of 5369 registered nurses could have been employed in lieu of nursing agency expenditure. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings should inform workforce planning in South Africa. There is a need for uniform policies and improved management of commercial nursing agencies in the public health sector.

A pilot study to explore the feasibility of using theClinical Care Classification System for developing a reliable costing method for nursing services.

While nursing activities represent a significant proportion of inpatient care, there are no reliable methods for determining nursing costs based on the actual services provided by the nursing staff. Capture of data to support accurate measurement and reporting on the cost of nursing services is fundamental to effective resource utilization. Adopting standard terminologies that support tracking both the quality and the cost of care could reduce the data entry burden on direct care providers. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility of using a standardized nursing terminology, the Clinical Care Classification System (CCC), for developing a reliable costing method for nursing services. Two different approaches are explored; the Relative Value Unit RVU and the simple cost-to-time methods. We found that the simple cost-to-time method was more accurate and more transparent in its derivation than the RVU method and may support a more consistent and reliable approach for costing nursing services.

Utilização do custeio baseado em atividades em centro de material e esterilização como ferramenta gerencial / The utilization based costing activities in central supply and sterelization as a management tool

O gerenciamento de custos proporciona condições adequadas às instituições hospitalares para análise dos processos administrativos e assistenciais na busca do equilíbrio entre a oferta de serviços, disponibilidade de recursos financeiros, atendimento a critérios de qualidade e incorporação tecnológica. Considerando-se a importância do CME para a qualidade da assistência, torna-se essencial a reflexão sobre os custos que incidem sobre os processos desenvolvidos, bem como as análises econômicas, a fim de balizar o planejamento e a tomada de decisão por parte do enfermeiro gestor. Sendo assim buscou-se no custeio baseado em atividades (custeio ABC) uma ferramenta eficiente para auxiliar o Enfermeiro gestor do CME no processo de tomada de decisão e também na prática gerencial baseada em evidências. Objetivos: Aplicar o sistema de custeio baseado em atividades no CME de um hospital público avaliando sua eficiência para uma prática gerencial baseada em evidências e também aferir o custo do CME pelo sistema de custeio por absorção comparando o método de custeio por absorção e o custeio baseado em atividades, descrevendo vantagens e desvantagens encontradas e seu apoio ao processo de tomada de decisão. Metodologia: Pesquisa aplicada, descritiva, tipo estudo de caso tendo a aplicação do custeio ABC dividido em quatro etapas. Resultados: Custo unitário médio de R$ 5,33 (US$2,85) por artigo médico-hospitalar processado aferido pelo custeio por absorção. Foram identificadas 25 atividades decorrentes de sete subprocessos, produzindo cinco objetos de custo, sendo o subprocesso Preparo e a atividade montagem e rotulação dos artigos os maiores consumidores de recurso (66,1 e 37,4 %, respectivamente)...

Cost management provides adequate conditions to hospitals for analysis of administrative and assistance processes in finding the balance between the provision of services, availability of financial resources, service quality criteria and the incorporation of technology. Considering the importance of Sterile Processing Department for the quality of care, it is essential to reflect on the costs imposed on the processes developed and the economic analyzes in order to guide the planning and decision making by the nurse manager. Therefore we found in activity-based costing (ABC) an effective tool to assist the nurse manager of Sterile Processing Department in the process of decision-making and also in management practice based on evidence. Objectives: Apply the ABC in Sterile Processing Department at public hospital evaluating their efficiency to a management practice based on evidence and also evaluate the cost of the Sterile Processing Department by comparing the absorption costing method and ABC, describing advantages and disadvantages encountered and their support for the process of decision making. Methodology: Applied research, descriptive, case study with application of ABC costing divided into four stages. Results: Average unit cost of (R$ 5.33/$. 2.85) per article physician-hospital sued measured by absorption costing. We identified 25 activities under seven sub processes, producing five cost objects, and the sub process preparation and the activity assembly and labeling of articles the largest resource consumers (66.1 and 37.4%, respectively). The cost of sterilization of each article was (R$ 6.05/$ 3.23) and disinfection was (R$ 3.03/$ 1.62). It was predominant in the study prior existence of absorption costing unit, providing information absolutely essential to the implementation of ABC...

Tool to assess the cost and quality benefits of nursing innovation.

Understanding the economic value of nursing services in a time of unprecedented public sector cuts is a challenge. The economic assessment tool (EAT) (RCN 2011) has been designed by the authors of the article for this purpose and generates return on investment dividends for nursing innovations and services. The EAT, which is built on the discipline of improvement and uses many of its tools and techniques, involves four stages: mapping, costing, calculating and reporting. The nursing profession systematically captures a range of clinical data as part of routine care to which monetary values can be assigned. The EAT exploits these data and provides the profession with the economic evidence it might need to sustain quality nursing services in financially uncertain times.

Anticoagulation monitoring by an anticoagulation service is more cost-effective than routine physician care.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) are the mainstay of long-term anticoagulation but require careful monitoring for effectiveness and safety. Physicians manage anticoagulation for most patients, although anticoagulation services are becoming increasingly popular. A new anticoagulation service (AS) run by nurses and overseen by a physician was established and its effectiveness vs usual physician care was independently assessed using costs of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations resulting from failure or complication of anticoagulation. We report the results of this independent analysis of anticoagulation monitoring of patients treated with VKAs. METHODS: The AS-treated patients received VKAs according to a written protocol, whereas physician monitoring was performed according to individual practice. An independent analysis of ED visits and hospitalizations due to complications of anticoagulation in patients receiving long-term VKAs between July 1, 2008, and December 31, 2008, was performed. The average cost of ED visits and hospitalizations was calculated for each patient cohort. The expense of each was amortized for a 12-month period to determine the annual cost of anticoagulation morbidity per 100 patients treated. RESULTS: Long-term VKAs were used to treat 2397 patients. Physicians managed 2266 patients (95%; group I) and the AS monitored 131 patients (5%; group II). In group I, 247 patients (10.9%) visited the ED, with an average cost of $288 per visit; the ED cost per patient treated was $31. In group II, two patients (1.5%) visited the ED, with an average cost of $139 per patient. The ED cost per patient treated was $2, leading to annual savings of $5800 per 100 patients (P = .0006). Complications of anticoagulation required hospitalization in 289 group I patients (12.8%), with an average cost of $15,125 per hospitalization and $1929 per patient treated and in three group II patients (2.3%), with an average cost of $17,794 per hospitalization and an average cost of $401 per patient treated. When the savings from ED visits and hospitalizations were combined, AS-managed anticoagulation led to annual savings of $305,600 (P = .0004). Subtracting the cost of staff services resulted in a yearly net savings of $241,400 per 100 patients (P ≤ .0001) managed by the AS. CONCLUSIONS: Management of long-term VKA therapy by an AS using established protocols appears to reduce anticoagulation morbidity and results in significant cost savings by reducing the number of ED visits and hospitalizations.