Clinical care costing method for the Clinical Care Classification System

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Healthcare Economics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Accurate costing of nursing care is essential for healthcare management and resource allocation.
• Existing methods may not fully capture the complexity and value of nursing interventions.
• The Clinical Care Classification System (CCCS) offers a standardized framework for describing nursing care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a methodology for calculating nursing care costs.
• To leverage the Clinical Care Classification System (CCCS) for cost analysis.
• To integrate cost calculation into clinical practice documentation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized three CCCS indicators: care components, actions, and outcomes.
• Integrated Clinical Care Pathways (CCPs) into the costing methodology.
• Developed the Clinical Care Costing Module (CCCM) for the CCCS.

Main Results:

• The cost of patient care is determined by multiplying action time by care components and nursing costs.
• The CCCM provides a quantifiable measure for nursing care costs.
• The methodology allows for the analysis of nursing costs across various care dimensions.

Conclusions:

• The CCCM facilitates the measurement and costing of clinical nursing practice within the CCCS.
• CCCM and CCPs can be integrated into electronic health records for streamlined tracking.
• This approach enhances documentation, analysis, and the costing of nursing care across diverse settings and populations.