The cost of a first and second hospital-wide accreditation in Flanders, Belgium.

Background: Hospital accreditation is a popular and widely used quality control and improvement instrument. Despite potential benefits, ques-tions are raised whether it constitutes appropriate use of hospitals' limited financial resources.

Objective: This study aims to calculate the cost of preparing for and undergoing a first and second accreditation by the Joint Commission International or Qualicor Europe in acute-care hospitals.

Variability drivers of treatment costs in hospitals: A systematic review.

Objectives: Studies on variability drivers of treatment costs in hospitals can provide the necessary information for policymakers and healthcare providers seeking to redesign reimbursement schemes and improve the outcomes-over-cost ratio, respectively. This systematic literature review, focusing on the hospital perspective, provides an overview of studies focusing on variability in treatment cost, an outline of their study characteristics and cost drivers, and suggestions on future research methodology.

Methods: We adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

Activity-based cost analysis of laboratory tests in clinical chemistry.

Ojectives: Since health care budgets are limited and must be allocated efficiently, there is an economic pressure to reduce the costs of health care interventions. This study aims to investigate the cost of testing within a Clinical Chemistry laboratory.

Methods: This study was conducted in the Clinical Chemistry laboratory of the University Hospital UZ Brussel, Belgium, in which 156 tests were included and an average cost per test was calculated for the year 2018.

Variability in Hospital Costs of Adult Spinal Deformity Care.

Study Design: Retrospective, single-center analysis.

Objective: To calculate the total clinical hospital cost of the Adult Spinal Deformity (ASD) care trajectory, to explain cost variability by patient and surgery characteristics, and to identify areas of process improvement opportunities.

Summary Of Background Data: ASD is associated with a high financial and clinical burden on society.

A haemovigilance team provides both significant financial and quality benefits in a University Hospital.

Background: Haemovigilance is the process of surveillance of blood transfusion procedures including unexpected hazards and reactions during the transfusion pathway in both donors and recipients. The haemovigilance team aims to increase blood transfusion safety and to decrease both morbidity and mortality in donors and recipients. The team collects data about transfusion reactions and incidents, instructs the involved health workers and assures the tracing of blood components.

Early versus late parenteral nutrition in ICU patients: cost analysis of the EPaNIC trial.

Introduction: The EPaNIC randomized controlled multicentre trial showed that postponing initiation of parenteral nutrition (PN) in ICU-patients to beyond the first week (Late-PN) enhanced recovery, as compared with Early-PN. This was mediated by fewer infections, accelerated recovery from organ failure and reduced duration of hospitalization. Now, the trial's preplanned cost analysis (N = 4640) from the Belgian healthcare payers' perspective is reported.

Analysis of healthcare resource utilization with intensive insulin therapy in critically ill patients.

Objective: To perform an analysis of healthcare resource utilization with intensive insulin therapy, which has recently been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality rates of mechanically ventilated critically ill patients in a surgical intensive care unit.

Design: A post hoc cost analysis.

Setting: Surgical intensive care unit.

Economic consequence of local control with radiotherapy: cost analysis of internal mammary and medial supraclavicular lymph node radiotherapy in breast cancer.

Purpose: To investigate the financial implications of radiotherapy (RT) to the internal mammary and medial supraclavicular lymph node chain (IM-MS) in postoperative breast cancer.

Methods And Materials: A cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis were performed, using Markov models, comparing the early and delayed costs and effects of IM-MS during a 20-year time span from a societal viewpoint. The outcome estimates were based on Level I evidence from postoperative RT literature and the cost estimates on the standard practice of the Leuven University Hospitals, with the RT costs derived from an activity-based costing program developed in the department.

CHART in lung cancer: economic evaluation and incentives for implementation.

Background And Purpose: To investigate the financial consequences and the impact on daily implementation of CHART in lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: A cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis were performed using Markov models, comparing the early and delayed costs and effects of CHART for NSCLC over a 4-year time span from a societal viewpoint. The outcome estimates were based on the CHART literature, the cost estimates on the standard practice of the Leuven University Hospitals, the radiotherapy costs being derived from an activity-based costing (ABC) programme developed in the department.

Re-scaling social preference data: implications for modelling.

As applied in cost-utility analysis, generic health status indexes require that full health and dead are valued as 1 and 0, respectively. When social preference weights for health states are obtained using a visual analogue scale (VAS), their raw scores often lie on a scale with different endpoints (such as "best" and "worst" health). Re-scaling individual raw scores to a 0-1 scale leads to the exclusion of respondents who fail to value dead or full health.

The economic implications of non-adherence after renal transplantation.

Background: The economic impact of therapeutic non-adherence in chronic diseases has rarely been examined using qualitative standards for economic evaluation. This study illustrates the impact of non-adherence on the cost utility of renal transplantation versus haemodialysis from the societal perspective and examines the scope for adherence-enhancing interventions.

Methods: Long-term costs and outcomes in adherent and non-adherent renal transplant patients were simulated in a Markov model.

The construct and concurrent validity of the EQ-5D in a renal transplant population.

Objectives: Cost-utility analysis in renal transplant populations requires the use of a generic instrument for health status measurement that generates a single value for health. Such instruments should be widely applicable in diverse patient populations and their validity should be established. The aim of this study was to explore the validity of the EQ-5D in renal transplant patients.

Activity-based costing: a practical model for cost calculation in radiotherapy.

Purpose: The activity-based costing method was used to compute radiotherapy costs. This report describes the model developed, the calculated costs, and possible applications for the Leuven radiotherapy department.

Methods And Materials: Activity-based costing is an advanced cost calculation technique that allocates resource costs to products based on activity consumption.

Health professionals' perceptions of health status after renal transplantation: a comparison with transplantation candidates' expectations.

Background: Renal transplantation is frequently considered superior to other renal replacement therapy in terms of survival and quality-of-life outcome. In this study, it was examined whether physicians and nurses have accurate perceptions of health status after renal transplantation (RTX) and whether renal transplant candidates have realistic expectations about posttransplant quality of life.

Methods: A comparative descriptive design was used for the comparison of physicians' and nurses' perceived and patients' expected and actual health status after RTX.

A typology for provider payment systems in health care.

A typology to classify provider payment systems from an incentive point of view is developed. We analyse the way, how these systems can influence provider behaviour and, a fortiori, contribute to attain the general objectives of health care, i.e.

A review of the literature on the economics of noncompliance. Room for methodological improvement.

Therapeutic noncompliance is a major issue in health care, having important negative consequences for clinical outcome as well as for health-care costs. This paper reviews the literature on the economics of therapeutic noncompliance, identifies methodological shortcomings and formulates recommendations for future economic research in this area. Medication noncompliance was explored more extensively, as the majority of articles dealt exclusively with this aspect of therapy.