Assessing the effect of standardized cost systems on financial performance. A difference-in-differences approach for hospitals according to their technological level.

Promoting the improvement of standardized cost systems (CS) is one of the measures available to health policy makers for the purpose of improving efficiency in hospitals over the long-term. Nevertheless, very few studies evaluate the relationship between alternative CS and the costs really incurred. We use data from 242 hospitals of the Spanish National Health Service (NHS) between 2010 and 2013 in order to explore the determinants of the cost per adjusted patient day, using a difference-in-differences approach where the treatment is the implementation of an advanced CS. We also investigate if the association between advanced CS and unit cost is different depending upon the technological level of the hospital. Results show that hospitals with more advanced CS contained their costs better. However, the latter effect of advanced CS is lower in hospitals with a greater endowment of high technology. Results suggest that health authorities should support the development of CS, particularly in high-tech hospitals, which are usually larger and more complex hospitals that tend to accumulate a greater portion of NHS hospital sector expenditure.

Surgical Outcome of Levator Recession for Correction of Upper Eyelid Retraction

PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy of levator recession under local anesthesia to treat upper eyelid retraction. METHODS: Records of 12 patients (12 lids) were reviewed retrospectively. Postoperative cosmetic results were assessed as good, fair, or poor based on the upper lid height and symmetry. Preoperative and postoperative marginal reflex distance (MRD1, mm), upper eyelid asymmetry, lid lag, lagophthalmos, and ocular exposure symptoms were compared. The reoperation rate was also evaluated. RESULTS: Causes accounting for upper lid retraction were Graves ophthalmopathy (9 lids, 75.0%), orbital pseudotumor (2 lids, 16.7%), and hypercorrection from previous ptosis operation (1 lid, 8.3%). At a mean +/- standard deviation of 27.7 +/- 24.0 months follow-up (range, 5-60 months), 11 patients (91.7%) showed significantly better cosmetic results. MRD1 decreased an average of 3.1 +/- 1.3 mm from 6.3 +/- 1.5 mm preoperatively to 3.2 +/- 0.9 mm postoperatively (p < 0.001). Upper lid asymmetry, lagophthalmos, and lid lag were also reduced significantly (p < 0.001). Overcorrection occurred in 3 lids (25%) and required levator advancement. Eleven patients (91.7%) experienced complete resolution of dry eye symptoms following levator recession. CONCLUSIONS: Levator recession showed good cosmetic results up to 2 years after surgery for upper eyelid retraction.

A Case of an Adrenocortical Carcinoma with Pulmonary Embolism as the Initial Manifestation

The annual incidence of a first episode of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (PE) in the general population is 120 per 100,000. Cancer is associated with an approximately 4- to 7-fold higher risk of thrombosis. Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare type of malignancy, accounting for 0.02% of all cancers reported annually. Approximately 40% of ACCs are nonsecretory. Most patients with nonsecreting tumors have clinical manifestations related to tumor growth (e.g., abdominal or flank pain). Often the adrenal mass is detected by chance via radiographic imaging. As a result, most ACC patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage and have a poor prognosis. Herein, we report a case of a 54-year-old woman who was admitted to our emergency department complaining of dyspnea. She was diagnosed with ACC accompanied by thrombi in the pulmonary artery and inferior vena cava. We performed a left adrenalectomy and administered adjuvant radiotherapy. The patient is currently receiving warfarin and adjuvant mitotane therapy. She was incidentally diagnosed with ACC, with PE as the initial manifestation.

Methods and Estimates of the Reimbursement for the Nurse Midwifery Center in the National Health Insurance / 여성건강간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to develop the optimal nursing fee for nurse-midwifery center (MC) in the national health insurance system. METHODS: The three methodologies used to calculate the conversion factors for the MCs in the national health insurance include cost accounting method, sustainable growth rate (SGR) model, and index model. In this study, the macro-economic indicators and the national statistics were used to estimate the conversion factors for the MCs. RESULTS: The optimal nursing fee for the MCs in 2011 was estimated to be an increase of 57.7% by cost accounting analysis, a decrease of 17.1% by SGR model, and a decrease of 16.1% by index model. The results from SGR model and index model could had been biased due to the upswing of medical spendings in the short-term period (2008~2009). A sensitivity analysis of pre-delivery subsidy program for OB & GYN hospitals and clinics showed that the program has substantially diminished the demand for the MC services. CONCLUSION: More reliable methodologies to estimate nursing fees precisely are required to prove the value of nurses' services and a government subsidy program for the MC services should be followed from a social perspective.

Testicular Epidermoid Cyst on Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging and ADC Map : A Case Report

Testicular epidermoid cyst is a rare benign tumor, accounting for 1-2% of all testicular tumors. It can be cured by organ preserving surgery, so accurate preoperative diagnosis is very important for preventing unneccessary and extensive orchiectomy. We experienced a case of an 18-year-old man who presented with a painless lump in his right testis. The testicular mass showed an onion ring sign on ultrasonography. Computed tomography images showed the mass as a low attenuating lesion with curvilinear calcification. On Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the mass appeared as high signal intensity with internal alternating low signal intensity patterns on T2-weighted images. The mass was displayed as having homogeneous high signal intensity on diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and showed lower apparent diffusion coefficient values than normal testis parenchyma, similar to intracranial epidermoid cysts. Testicular MRI with DWI and ADC map can help to more accurately diagnose testicular epidermoid cyst.

Cost accounting and public reimbursement schemes in Spanish hospitals.

The objective of this paper is to provide a description and analysis of the main costing and pricing (reimbursement) systems employed by hospitals in the Spanish National Health System (NHS). Hospitals cost calculations are mostly based on a full costing approach as opposite to other systems like direct costing or activity based costing. Regional and hospital differences arise on the method used to allocate indirect costs to cost centres and also on the approach used to measure resource consumption. Costs are typically calculated by disaggregating expenditure and allocating it to cost centres, and then to patients and DRGs. Regarding public reimbursement systems, the impression is that unit costs are ignored, except for certain type of high technology processes and treatments.

Variable prospective financing in the Danish hospital sector and the development of a Danish case-mix system.

This article aims to describe and assess the Danish case-mix system, the cost accounting applied in setting national tariffs and the introduction of variable, prospective payment in the Danish hospital sector. The tariffs are calculated as a national average from hospital data gathered in a national cost database. However, uncertainty, mainly resulting from the definition of cost centres at the individual hospital, implies that the cost weights may not fully reflect the hospital treatment cost. As variable prospective payment of hospitals currently only applies to 20% of a hospital's budget, the incentives and the effects on productivity, quality and equality are still limited.

Cost accounting to determine prices: how well do prices reflect costs in the German DRG-system?

Germany has recently introduced a system of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) to engender more appropriate resource allocation. The following article describes the German DRG-system and the methodologies used to determine prices. It analyses the extent to which prices, or calculated cost weights, reflect the actual costs incurred by hospitals for their respective services. We reveal that a "compression" of DRG cost weights occurs, and that the data sample used to calculate cost weights is lacking in terms of its representativeness. Although cost data accuracy has improved over the last few years there are still a number of challenges that need to be addressed.

Accounting and reimbursement schemes for inpatient care in France.

The new French case-mix system of hospital payment was adopted in 2004 for public hospitals and in March 2005 for private-for-profit hospitals. Implementing this reform requires a period of transition but the challenges ahead can already be predicted. Prices will have to change before this mode of reimbursement can have any real impact. This requires producing more detailed hospital cost data and using fine measuring tools such as the cost accounting method developed for use in this context. This article describes and analyses the main tools and methods selected to implement the new French prospective payment system.

Khipu accounting in ancient Peru.

Khipu are knotted-string devices that were used for bureaucratic recording and communication in the Inka Empire. We recently undertook a computer analysis of 21 khipu from the Inka administrative center of Puruchuco, on the central coast of Peru. Results indicate that this khipu archive exemplifies the way in which census and tribute data were synthesized, manipulated, and transferred between different accounting levels in the Inka administrative system.

contaduria publica - La contabilidad de costos: su epistemologia, curriculo y didactica / sss

Trabajo de investigacion que hace un analisis interno y externo del proceso docente educativos en relacion al contexto, a partir del alto indice de desercion y reprobacion en Contabilidad de Costos I. Se pretende superar con la elaboracion de un plan global con un enfoque holistico (Sistematico, Dialectico y Holografico) epistemologico y genetico (tres unidades) y metodos en su relacion dialectica y en correspondencia con los otros componentes (medios, formas y evaluacion) y dimenciones o etapas logicas del proceso docente-educativo, para beneficiar en el aprendizaje de los estudiantes y coadyuvar a resolver problemas...

A critical review of cost reduction in neonatal intensive care. I. The structure of costs.

Neonatal intensive care is expensive. In the current era of intense cost containment in hospital care, neonatologists and hospital administrators are under intense pressure to find strategies for cost reduction for neonatal services. Few neonatal clinicians are trained in economics, management, or accounting, and few hospital administrators are familiar with neonatal intensive care. In this review, we describe the structure and sources of hospital costs and the accounting systems needed to isolate and measure such costs. We discuss where efficiencies might be found and consider specific issues in capitated settings such as health maintenance organizations in the United States, the Canadian health care system and the National Health System in the United Kingdom.

Off-balance-sheet financing can generate capital for strategic development.

To manage their real estate portfolios effectively and obtain funding for strategic development, IDSs should consider adopting off-balance-sheet financing strategies, such as sale-and-leaseback transactions, synthetic leases, and joint-venture arrangements. Under these approaches, real estate assets are moved off of the organization's balance sheet via a partial or complete transfer of ownership to a third-party entity. The organization typically retains a satisfactory degree of control over the assets as lessee in sale-and-leaseback and synthetic-lease arrangements, or limited or minority partner in a joint venture, while freeing up cash to use for other strategic purposes.