Search Tag: Costs

ICU Management

Isicem18-what-you-need-to-know-about-icu-cost-control

2018 27 Mar

Controlling ICU costs requires good interdisciplinary communication and optimised resource allocation and use. It does not mean that patient outcomes will be compromised. Taking on budgeting can be daunting, but there are key points to bear in mind, according to Jukka Takala, professor of Intensive Care Medicine in the University of Bern, Switzerland,...Read more

ICU Management

Procalcitonin-testing-associated-with-lower-costs-length-of-stay

2016 05 Sep

Procalcitonin (PCT) is increasingly used in health services to diagnose and manage sepsis, and is authorised for use for this purpose in the United States. A recently published study found that patients who had 1-2 PCT evaluations on their first day of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) had a significantly lower hospital and ICU length of stay,...Read more

ICU Management

Study-ards-costs-survival-qol-over-one-year

2016 24 Aug

Patients who survive acute respiratory distress syndrome experience low quality of life at one year after intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and experience high associated post-hospital healthcare costs, out of pocket expenses and lost earnings. Joachim Marti, Centre for Health Policy, Imperial College London, UK, and colleagues from the UK and...Read more

ICU Management

Costing-icu-care-a-bottom-up-approach

2016 28 Apr

A study from Greece that analysed variable ICU costs found that medicines, and antibiotics in particular, accounted for more than half of the cost of the patient’s stay. Other significant costs were blood products, cardiovascular drugs, biochemistry and arterial blood gases. The variable cost per ICU day was €573.18 (median 422.40), lower than observed...Read more

ICU Management

Study-admitting-borderline-pneumonia-patients-is-beneficial

2015 22 Sep

Intensive care unit (ICU) admission for older, low-risk patients with pneumonia was linked with improved survival and no significant differences in hospital costs, according to a study published in the latest issue of JAMA . The findings "suggest that ICU admission for borderline patients (those for whom ICU admission depends on the hospital to which...Read more

ICU Management

Esicm-2014-can-protocols-for-antibiotic-use-save-money

2014 15 Oct

A study presented by Dr. Hugo Calderón at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) congress in Barcelona this month looked at whether implementing a protocol for antibiotic use affected patient mortality and admission costs. This followed reorganisation of the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Hospital de Faro in Portugal, when the number...Read more

ICU Management

Significant-cost-savings-with-early-palliative-care

2014 22 Jul

A new study in Health Services Research reports that palliative care, if delivered early during hospitalisation, can play an important role in cutting down costs for critically ill patients. The ultimate objective of palliative care is to relieve the patient's suffering. Lead author Ian McCarthy, PhD, an assistant professor of economics at Emory University...Read more

ICU Management

The-cost-and-quality-conundrum-of-american-end-of-life-care

2013 05 Jun

At first glance, America is making great strides toward a medical and cultural shift in its approach to end-of-life care: More and more providers are recognizing the benefits of hospice, more people are dying at home, and many health care organizations are institutionalizing the discussions between providers and patients that would help patients...Read more