THE USE OF A PATIENT CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM TO ANALYZE AND PREDICT NURSING CARE COSTS FOR PATIENTS IN FIFTEEN MAJOR DRGS (DIAGNOSTIC).
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 245
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this descriptive and predictive study was to develop a model to study nursing care costs. The sample consisted of 655 patients in one nonprofit, acute care hospital. This sample included patients aged 18 and over who were in one of the fifteen medical-surgical diagnosis related groups (DRG)s being studied.

Patient acuity information from the patient classification tool in use at the study hospital was adapted to produce an interval level measure. This information was used with data from the hospital DRG output to develop the following variables: the total hours of nursing care a patient received while in the hospital (TOTLHRS), the average daily hours of nursing care (NCH), the patients' total acuity level (TAL), the index of nursing care hours (INCH), the total cost for nursing care during the hospitalization (NSGCOST), and nursing productivity ratios, defined as nursing costs divided by total patient charges.

Analysis of variance revealed a highly significant difference across DRGs in age, length of stay (LOS), total charges, nursing costs, TOTLHRS, TAL, INCH, and productivity.

Nursing care costs averaged from 6.5 - 13.9% of total patient charges. Both nursing costs and total charges were much higher for ICU patients than for general medical-surgical patients, but the difference in total charges was greater than the difference for nursing costs.

TOTLHRS or TAL was able to explain 60% of the variance in total patient charges were regressed on total hours, DRG coded for effects, age, and sex. The major predictor of nursing care costs was length of stay, which explained 78% of the variance. However, another 10.5% was explained by INCH. The other predictor variables used were DRG, age, and sex. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-04, Section: B, page: 1116.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1984.

School code: 0227.