The implementation of inpatient case mix funding in Alberta and Ontario does not allow for adequate incentives to shift resources to an outpatient basis, where appropriate, or to provide outpatient care efficiently. This paper explores the prospects and problems of further extending case mix tools into this area. The availability of tools to characterize output for day surgery, special clinics and emergency care is surveyed. We conclude that case mix funding is desirable and feasible for ambulatory surgery; however, it is questionable for emergency care and special clinics. However, developments in this area in the United States will continue, and this will likely maintain an interest in Canada.
Challenges and successes of recruitment in the "angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition in infants with single ventricle trial" of the Pediatric Heart Network.
Identify trends of enrolment and key challenges when recruiting infants with complex cardiac diseases into a multi-centre, randomised, placebo-controlled drug trial and assess the impact of efforts to share successful strategies on enrolment of subjects.
Rates of screening, eligibility, consent, and randomisation were determined for three consecutive periods of time. Sites collectively addressed barriers to recruitment and shared successful strategies resulting in the Inventory of Best Recruiting Practices. Study teams detailed institutional practices of recruitment in post-trial surveys that were compared with strategies of enrolment initially proposed in the Inventory.
The number of screened patients increased by 30% between the Initial Period and the Intermediate Period (p = 0.007), whereas eligibility decreased slightly by 7%. Of those eligible for entry into the study, the rate of consent increased by 42% (p = 0.025) and randomisation increased by 71% (p = 0.10). During the Final Period, after launch of a competing trial, fewer patients were screened (-14%, p = 0.06), consented (-19%, p = 0.12), and randomised (-34%, p = 0.012). Practices of recruitment in the post-trial survey closely mirrored those in the Inventory.
Early identification and sharing of best strategies of recruitment among all recruiting sites can be effective in increasing recruitment of critically ill infants with congenital cardiac disease and possibly other populations. Strategies of recruitment should focus on those that build relationships with families and create partnerships with the medical providers who care for them. Competing studies pose challenges for enrolment in trials, but fostering trusting relationships with families can result in successful enrolment into multiple studies.
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Cites: Arthritis Res Ther. 2004;6(3):R250-515142271
To analyze differences in intensive care unit (ICU) utilization between a Canadian province and a U.S. area.
Retrospective data analysis of hospital discharge data and existing data from an international study of severity of illness in ICU patients.
Administrative data for the province of Alberta and the four counties of western Massachusetts for the years 1990 to 1991 were used. Detailed data on consecutive ICU admissions from two Alberta hospitals, one western Massachusetts hospital, and 24 other U.S. hospitals for 3 months in 1991 were used.
ICU use and hospital mortality rates were compared for 50,030 hospital admissions divided into 11 patient groups. ICU days per million population were two to three times as great in western Massachusetts as in Alberta. The primary reason was higher ICU incidence (percent of hospitalized patients treated in the ICU) rather than a difference in hospital admission rate or length of ICU stay. ICU incidence in western Massachusetts was significantly higher in ten of 11 patient groups--for the coronary bypass surgery group, there was no difference. The hospital mortality rate in western Massachusetts was similar to, or higher than, the mortality rate in Alberta. In Alberta, a much higher proportion of ICU patients received mechanical ventilation. For elective surgery patients, the ICU severity of illness was lower in western Massachusetts and in other U.S. hospitals than in Alberta.
Western Massachusetts hospitalized patients are more likely to be treated in an ICU than are similar patients in Alberta. There is no evidence that the greater ICU utilization in western Massachusetts led to a lower hospital mortality rate.
A cost-effectiveness analysis of the application of nitric oxide versus oxygen gas for near-term newborns with respiratory failure: results from a Canadian randomized clinical trial.
To conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of the use of inhaled nitric oxide (NO) vs. oxygen administered to near-term (gestational age > or =34 wks) newborns with severe respiratory illness that were referred for consideration of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
The cost-effectiveness analysis is based on outcome and utilization data from two multicentered randomized clinical trials conducted by the Canadian Inhaled Nitric Oxide Study group, one for patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and one for patients without CDH. Data from the western Canadian ECMO center were used to establish costs.
Patients were cared for in Canadian regional neonatal intensive care units, including two ECMO centers. Air transport was used for transporting patients between centers.
Term and near-term newborns with severe respiratory illness who were receiving maximum conventional therapy and whose oxygenation index was >40.
Patients randomly received NO or oxygen. If their conditions deteriorated, they qualified for ECMO. Not all that qualified for ECMO received it because of individual parent/ physician preferences.
The cost-effectiveness ratio was the ratio of net cost (including neonatal intensive care, ECMO, and transport) to net outcome (survival) for the two interventions. For non-CDH cases, the cost-effectiveness ratio was $36,613 (Canadian) per life saved; the confidence intervals were wide and the results were not statistically significant. For CDH patients, the death rate was lower for oxygen and the oxygen patients cost less; the results were not statistically significant.
The small numbers of patients in the trials precluded significant results. Further, our results have a short-term time horizon (discharge to home or death). Thus, for non-CDH patients, the favorable ratio provides very qualified evidence in favor of NO.
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Comment In: Crit Care Med. 2000 Mar;28(3):902-310752860
To conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of the Edmonton Streetworks needle exchange program, in terms of the additional cost per HIV infection averted. The main outcome measures were needle use with and without Streetworks, HIV cases averted, and program costs.
We conducted interviews and HIV saliva tests on a sample of street-involved intravenous drug users (IDU) who are regular Streetworks' clients. Outcomes were used in a cost-effectiveness model.
It is projected that the program has a cost-effectiveness of $9,500 (Canadian) per HIV infection delayed for one year.
The discounted cost per case averted is less than the cost of a case of AIDS. Continuing the program is a dominant strategy.
We reviewed the Canadian literature on cost-effectiveness from 1980-95 with regard to costing methodologies. We abstracted each study using a list of data elements that describe costing methodology, and evaluated costing methodologies in the light of biases in costing methods, site, and case-mix selection.
Intensive care units (ICUs) sustain life but, in certain cases, this resource becomes a means to prolong dying, with great physical, emotional and financial impact. The cost to care for patients in the ICU is at least three times more than general ward care; thus, ICUs have become one of the largest cost centres in the hospital. Economic pressures require us to be mindful of whom the ICU treats and for how long. Health professionals working in the ICU must critically appraise the ethical basis for their behaviour and actions. In so doing, many are likely to appeal to the patient's right to self-determination and the physician's reliance on the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence as the underpinnings of morality in medicine. One approach is to examine the issues and rights pertinent to an individual case using a circular model. Decisions are based on medical facts and prognosis, a patient's right to self-determination, a patient's best interests and external factors. Health personnel would be compelled to consider all of these issues. Within this framework, prevention or resolution of moral dilemma can take place within the clinical rather than the legal forum.
To develop a measure of an acute care "episode of care" that incorporates hospital and home care portions of care, and to measure the costs of such episodes.
Patient level data from a home care program and an acute care hospital were linked using patient health insurance identification numbers. The linked database contained information on inpatient case mix, home care patient classification (i.e., type of care) and cost data for both settings. Data by patient classification were analyzed.
Patterns of resource use were very different for medical and surgical cases, home care costs being 25% of a medical episode and only 5% of a surgical episode. For surgical cases, the marginal cost of an extra surgical day is about equal to the marginal cost of an extra short-term home care case (i.e., a one-day reduction in a surgical inpatient length of stay would cover the cost of a home care stay). Medical cases would require a three-day reduction in inpatient cost.
