Outcomes of and resource consumption by high-cost patients in the intensive care unit

Care of patients in an intensive care unit is among the most costly in hospitals. Little is known about high-cost patients within the intensive care unit or their outcomes of care.

To examine outcomes of and resource consumption by high-cost adult patients who received care in an intensive care unit at an academic medical center.

Data on patients admitted during the period January 1, 1995, through June 30, 1999, were analyzed retrospectively. An intensive care unit database, the hospital discharge data set, and a cost-accounting data set were used to determine the total intensive care unit cost for the hospitalization. Patients were then stratified into cost deciles. Hospital and intensive care unit outcomes for patients in the top decile were compared with those of patients in the other deciles.

Cost data were available on 10,606 of the 11,244 patients who received care in an intensive care unit. Patients in the top decile accounted for 48.7% of all intensive care unit costs, and 67.6% of this group survived to discharge despite prolonged care. Patients transferred from an outside hospital were more likely to be in the top decile, have a longer stay in the intensive care unit, or die than were the other patients.

A small group of patients accounts for a disproportionately higher amount of intensive care unit resources but has a relatively high survival rate. This cohort should be treated as an intact group that is not amenable to traditional cost-cutting measures.