An anesthesia medication cost scorecard--concepts for individualized feedback

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Healthcare Management
• Anesthesiology

Background:

• Increasing focus on healthcare cost containment and quality improvement.
• Operating room (OR) medication costs are a significant and monitorable factor in overall healthcare expenses.
• Need for effective strategies to manage costs while maintaining high-quality patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the effectiveness of anesthetic cost report cards for anesthesia providers.
• To assess the feasibility of using existing informatics systems for cost analysis.
• To promote cost awareness and identify potential quality improvements in anesthetic practices.

Main Methods:

• Utilized existing informatics systems to gather and analyze anesthetic drug costs for OR providers.
• Analyzed drug costs by medication class for individual anesthesia providers.
• Compared individual provider costs to group averages and tracked trends over time.
• Presented data in an electronic report card format for individual feedback.

Main Results:

• Developed an electronic report card system to display anesthetic medication costs.
• Data included case volume, duration, total costs, and cost per case, broken down by medication class.
• Enabled real-time feedback to anesthesiologists on their medication spending.
• Demonstrated the potential for tracking individual anesthetic costs and trends.

Conclusions:

• Anesthetic cost report cards are a viable tool for providing feedback to anesthesia providers.
• This system can encourage reduced anesthetic costs and support quality improvement initiatives.
• Further development could incorporate additional metrics for comprehensive cost and quality assessment in the OR.