title: Costs of disposable material in the operating room do not show high correlation with surgical time: Implications for hospital payment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objectives of this study are to analyze the variation of the surgical time and of disposable costs per surgical procedure and to analyze the association between disposable costs and the surgical time.
  
  
  METHODS
  The registration of data was done in an operating room of a 419 bed general hospital, over a period of three months (n = 1556 surgical procedures). Disposable material per procedure used was recorded through a barcode scanning method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average cost (standard deviation) of disposable material is €183.66 (€183.44). The mean surgical time (standard deviation) is 96 min (63). Results have shown that the homogeneity of operating time and DM costs was quite good per surgical procedure. The correlation between the surgical time and DM costs is not high (r = 0.65).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a context of Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) based hospital payment, it is important that costs information systems are able to precisely calculate costs per case. Our results show that the correlation between surgical time and costs of disposable materials is not good. Therefore, empirical data or itemized lists should be used instead of surgical time as a cost driver for the allocation of costs of disposable materials to patients.
authors: Centre de recherche en Economie de la Santé (Health Economics Research Center), Gestion des Institutions de Soins et Sciences Infirmières (Management of Institutions of care and nursing research), Ecole de Santé Publique (School of Public Health), Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808, Route de Lennik, CP 592, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Delo
authors: Centre de recherche en Economie de la Santé (Health Economics Research Center), Gestion des Institutions de Soins et Sciences Infirmières (Management of Institutions of care and nursing research), Ecole de Santé Publique (School of Public Health), Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808, Route de Lennik, CP 592, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Pol
authors: P
authors: Leclercq
authors: Centre de recherche en Economie de la Santé (Health Economics Research Center), Gestion des Institutions de Soins et Sciences Infirmières (Management of Institutions of care and nursing research), Ecole de Santé Publique (School of Public Health), Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808, Route de Lennik, CP 592, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Dimitri
authors: D
authors: Martins
authors: Centre de recherche en Economie de la Santé (Health Economics Research Center), Gestion des Institutions de Soins et Sciences Infirmières (Management of Institutions of care and nursing research), Ecole de Santé Publique (School of Public Health), Université Libre de Bruxelles, 808, Route de Lennik, CP 592, 1070 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: magali.pirson@ulb.ac.be.
authors: Magali
authors: M
authors: Pirson
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004209:Disposable Equipment / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D005260:Female; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009873:Operating Rooms / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D061646:Operative Time; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Cost analysis; Disposable material; Hospital funding system; Operating room; Surgical time