The true cost of treating children

Paediatric patients (compared with adults) require additional time, effort and skill from hospital staff caring for them. Many suggestions for making successive versions of AN-DRGs more child friendly have not been implemented. Rather than relying on age, the AN-DRG classification should allow a better definition of complexity within DRGs. The two groups of children who place a disproportionate burden on paediatric teaching centres are children under 3 years and those with congenital abnormalities and chronic illness. Cost weights are not specific for paediatric patients. The extra costs of caring for children are reflected in nursing costs, highlighting the importance of including nurse dependency data in any costing study.