Table 2 Examples of costing items included in the European Healthcare and Social Cost Database (EU HCSCD)
Field | Description | Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Category | Primary resources | Composite goods and services | Complex processes and interventions | |
Subcategory | Medical devices | Image diagnosis | Inpatient medical and surgical processes | |
Costing item | Wearable cardioverter-defibrillator | Computerized tomography scan | Heart failure (ICD10: I50) | |
Item subtype | Provides further description of the costing item. | n.a. | Scan of the skull and its contents, without contrast medium | Very complex |
Item in local language | Apart from English, each item is provided in the language of the country the resource is taken from. | Defibrillatore Indossabile | Scanographie du crâne et de son contenu, sans ijection de preduit de contraste | Hjärtsvikt & chock |
Code | Combination of letters and/or numbers each costing item is described with in the original source. | Z12030503 | ACQK001 | E47A |
Model | Value used to represent one medical device or a family of medical devices to group many variations that have shared characteristics. This field applies to medical devices and health products/disposables. | WCD-4000 | n.a. | n.a. |
Brand | Proprietary/commercial name occasionally used to assist in the identification of the regulated medical device and/ or disposables/ reusable. This field applies to medicines, medical devices and health products/ disposables. | Zoll Medical Italia SRL | n.a. | n.a. |
Country | The country the data originated from. | Italy | France | Sweden |
Region | Sardinia | n.a. | Östergötland | |
Type of unit | The way the units are delivered (e.g., box). This field applied to medicines and health products/ disposables. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
Number of units | The number of items delivered in the year of observation that are included in unit price. The purpose of this field is to know how reliable a certain value –usually an average − is. | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Unit of measurement | The unit that can be acquired at an observable price or the unit that is used by each health care centre/hospital. | Wearable cardioverter-defibrillator (WCD) | Procedure | Process |
Strength | The amount of a drug in a given dosage form, measured as the number of micrograms per millilitre. This field applies only to medicines. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
Year | Refers to the year of cost publication. | 2019 | 2018 | 2019 |
Local price | The unit price of each item. | 3700 | 25.27 | 72,198 |
Local currency | The currency of the unit price of the country the items refers to. | Euro | Euro | Swedish krona |
Price in euros | Local price converted into euros. | 3700 | 25.27 | 6909.35 |
Year (GDP deflator) | Year of the last GDP deflator available. The GDP deflator is country-specific, but the last value available comes from the same year. | n.a. | 2019 | N.a. |
Local price (GDP deflator applied) | Local price after applying the last country-specific GDP deflator available. | 3700 | 25.58 | 72,198 |
Price in euros (GDP deflator applied) | Local price (GDP deflator applied) converted into euros. | 3700 | 25.58 | 6909.35 |
Year (CPI) | Year of the last CPI available. The CPI is country-specific, but the last value available comes from the same year. | n.a. | 2019 | n.a. |
Local price (CPI applied) | Local price after applying the last country-specific CPI available. | 3700 | 25.60 | 72,198 |
Price in euro (CPI applied) | Local price (CPI applied) converted into euros. | 3700 | 25.60 | 6909.35 |
Type of unit value | Type of monetary value that is placed on each of the resources used. | Leasing price | tariff | Tariff |
Type of institution | Type of centre where the patients were attended. | Hospital | Ambulatory care | Hospital |
Source of unit cost data | The institution that published the data, that is, the institution responsible for communicating or publishing the costing information. | Sistema Sanitario Regione Sardegna | Securité Sociale l’Assurance Maladie | Sydöstra sjukvårds-regionen |
Reference of unit cost data | A web page where the publication, report or database with the unit cost is mentioned. | |||
Notes | Contains any explanations or notes relevant to the costing methodology, if available (i.e. what cost elements are included in the unit cost, how are these elements identified –micro-costing or gross-costing−, how are cost elements valued –top-down or bottom-up−, etc. | Cost per 1-month lease. The code refers to CND (Classificazione Nazionale dei Dispositivi medici). | Consultation cost is not included. Payer’s perspective. There are the following extra charges: 40€ if the procedure is performed urgently on Sundays and public holidays, 80€ for paediatric night urgency 12–8 am, 50€ for emergency except paediatricians, + 49% for patients < 5 years old, + 15.8% for major act radiography carried out by a radiologist, a pulmonologist or a rheumatologist. | The tariff is based on DRG. Costing methodology used in identification and valuation of resources: top-down micro-costing. Depreciation of building and financial cost are included. Research cost and teaching cost are excluded. |