Comparing methodologies for the cost estimation of hospital services

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine whether the total cost estimate of a hospital service remains reliable when the cost components of bottom-up microcosting were replaced by the cost components of top-down microcosting or gross costing. Total cost estimates were determined in representative general hospitals in the Netherlands for appendectomy, normal delivery, stroke and acute myocardial infarction for 2005. It was concluded that restricting the use of bottom-up microcosting to those cost components that have a great impact on the total costs (i.e., labour and inpatient stay) would likely result in reliable cost estimates.

A comparison of clinical trial and model-based cost estimates in glaucoma – The case of repeat laser trabeculoplasty In Ontario

“…Costs remain understudied relative to effectiveness [3] and the lack of transparent, accurate cost data impacts the validity of CEAs and may lead to inappropriate reimbursement decisions, as well as preventing their use at a level commensurate with their promise. [4,5] The cost and effectiveness data for CEAs may be obtained in two ways: [6] Dollar by dollar alongside a clinical trial (or population-based study)-often called microcosting. Alternatively, a synthesis of literature-based sources (and institutional experience, expert opinion and assumptions where these are unavailable) may provide relevant figures to populate a decision-analytic model such as a decision tree or Markov model-often called gross or macrocosting.…”

“…These costs are difficult to ascertain and assigning them to specific procedures suffers from an irreducible arbitrariness and sensitivity to methods. [4,18,19] …”

The adaptation of product cost estimation techniques to estimate the cost of service

“…The concept of delivering a service has been researched since the twentieth century and widely applied in numerous sectors such as aerospace, information technology (IT), health care, finance, civil construction, and defence areas (Jian and Hong-fu 2004, Ward and Graves 2007, Tan et al 2009). The delivery of a service can, for example, include training, logistics, maintenance, consulting, auditing, human resources, financial management, health care and IT services (CMMI 2009).…”

Cost‐Utility Analysis of High Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid for Knee Osteoarthritis in Everyday Clinical Care in Patients at a Working Age: An Economic Evaluation of a Randomized Clinical Trial

“…They provide insight into the effects and associated costs of the treatment, and supply policy and decision makers in health care with useful information to support their decisions (11,12). Until this point, 2 economic evaluations have investigated the value of HMW-HA for knee OA in a realworld clinical setting (13,14).…”