A research-oriented medical cost accounting system.
Prospective research into factors affecting health care costs for individual patients requires a hybrid information management system with some features usually associated with a medical billing package and other features common to research databases. Furthermore, data collection for such a project must often be done in the field where a portable computer is most convenient. A software program is described which has been developed to address these disparate needs. It allows classification by study protocol assignment and provides multiple summary formats for the assessment of costs. For example, charges can be stratified by specialty, by category of service (pharmacy, room, surgery, respiratory therapy, etc.), by magnitude of expense ('big' vs 'little' ticket items) and so forth. The system design described may prove useful to other investigators studying variation in health care costs.
Department of Community and Family Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093.
R D
RD
Langer
R
R
Wark
L J
LJ
Schneiderman
R M
RM
Kaplan
J P
JP
Anderson
M
M
Chen
D000066:Accounting / Q000379:methods*; D002140:California; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003628:Database Management Systems; D005377:Financial Management, Hospital; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods*; D008838:Microcomputers; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface