Patient level costing in Ireland: process, challenges and opportunities.

Area of Science:

• Health economics
• Healthcare management
• Health information systems

Background:

• The Irish Department of Health's 2013 'Money Follows the Patient' policy paper emphasizes patient-level costing for hospital financing.
• Patient-level costing is a foundational element for proposed healthcare financing models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the patient-level costing process within the Irish hospital context.
• To identify opportunities and challenges associated with implementing patient-level costing.
• To inform healthcare policy and practice regarding cost allocation.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive review of existing literature on patient-level costing.
• Interviews with health service staff to gather practical insights and perspectives.

Main Results:

• Significant challenges include information/communication technology deficits, lack of financial expertise, and coding timeliness issues.
• Increased clinical input is necessary compared to traditional costing methods.
• Long-term benefits include empowered clinical staff, improved transparency, better price setting, and fairer treatment of outliers.

Conclusions:

• Promoting the advantages of patient-level costing is essential for its adoption.
• Investment is required to address and overcome the identified implementation challenges.
• Successful implementation supports the achievement of the Government's Health Strategy goals.