System and method for cost accounting in a healthcare environment

• US 20060143042A1
• Filed: 12/28/2004
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cerner Innovation, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Cerner Innovation, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gragg, John H., Lancaster, Brian J., Parkins, Kent D., Yarbrough, Michael E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,822,623 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method and system for generating cost accounting data. The method may include retrieving information including descriptive attributes that represent content captured during patient care. The method may additionally include associating each descriptive attribute with a cost. A system may be provided for generating cost accounting information in a healthcare environment. The system may include automated information capture equipment and a retrieval component for retrieving content captured by the automated information capture equipment. The system may additionally include an association component for associating captured content with a cost and an implementation component for generating cost accounting information based on created associations.

Claims

1. A method for generating cost accounting information in a healthcare environment, the method comprising:

automatically retrieving information including descriptive attributes, wherein the descriptive attributes represent content electronically captured during patient care; and

associating each descriptive attribute with a cost.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising combining the cost of each descriptive attribute classified in a category in order to determine a category cost.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting one of a procedure and an order as a category definition.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting a patient as a category definition.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving descriptive attributes comprises retrieving information from an electronic health record.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving descriptive attributes comprises retrieving information pertaining to caregiver labor costs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving descriptive attributes comprises retrieving a record of medical device usage.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing clinical data, general ledger data and resource utilization data in a single database.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein retrieving descriptive attributes comprises retrieving descriptive attributes from the single database.

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising summarizing cost information along a patient dimension.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising defining the patient dimension as one of treating physician, department, diagnosis, procedure, and insurance plan.

12. A computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 1.

13. A system for generating cost accounting information in a healthcare environment including automated information capture equipment, the system comprising:

a retrieval component for retrieving content captured by the automated information capture equipment;

an association component for associating captured content with a cost; and

an implementation component for generating cost accounting information based on created associations.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the captured content comprises a set of descriptive attributes.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising a central database for storing captured data, the captured data including clinical data, resource utilization data, and general ledger data.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the retrieval component retrieves captured data from the central database.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the stored clinical data comprises electronic health records.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the resource utilization data comprises resource time spent on an activity.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the association component includes cost algorithms for calculating costs at a selected granularity level.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the granularity level comprises a procedure level, the procedure level composed of descriptive attributes.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the selected level of granularity comprises a patient level, the patient level composed of descriptive attributes.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the implementation component comprises cost algorithms for summarizing costs by population.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the implementation component comprises cost algorithms for producing an analysis by one of physician, surgeon, procedure, case, and insurance plan.