Adjusted Expenses per Inpatient Day

Adjusted Expenses per Inpatient Day

KPI Details

Adjusted Expenses per Inpatient Day measures the total cost of providing inpatient and outpatient care in relation to the number of adjusted inpatient days managed by the hospital over a certain period of time. A relatively high value for this metric is typically related to a few common factors, including highly manual (i.e., error and rework prone) inpatient and outpatient care processes and procedures (e.g., patient medication tracking, patient monitoring, medical history gathering, etc. practices that are almost entirely managed through manual labor), overstaffing of all inpatient and/or outpatient functions, general inefficiencies within inpatient and outpatient processes (e.g., inaccurate medication tracking, inefficient gathering of the patient's medical history, poor diagnosis of symptoms and patient issue severity, etc.), and sub-par inpatient and outpatient employee training and performance. While a low value for this metric is preferred, this should also be balanced with the level of service being provided to patients, as the quality of inpatient and outpatient services may impact patient satisfaction, the length of the patient's stay in the hospital, and the patient's survivability.

KPI Definition

The total cost of providing inpatient and outpatient care divided by the number of adjusted inpatient days managed by the hospital over a certain period of time. Time spent on outpatient services is converted to inpatient days.

KPI Best Practices

• Employ part-time employees and monitor patient volume daily to make staffing decisions
• Regularly evaluate vendor contracts to identify opportunities for cost savings or reduction
• Use activity-based costing to determine areas that are high cost drivers to the hospital

KPI Calculation Instructions Adjusted Expenses per Inpatient Day?

Two values are used to calculate this KPI: (1) the total cost of providing inpatient and outpatient care, and (2) the number of adjusted inpatient days managed by the hospital over a certain period of time. Convert time spent on outpatient services to inpatient days and add that number to the total number of inpatient days to obtain the amount of adjusted inpatient days. Inpatient care should be considered to be all practices employed in treating a patient while the patient is formally admitted to a hospital (the severity of the symptoms, the necessity for quick care and other factors determine if a patient should be admitted as an inpatient). Outpatient care should be considered to be all practices employed in servicing a patient while the patient is not formally admitted as an inpatient (includes observation services, lab tests, physical therapy, etc.). Outpatient care includes any hospital services performed while not admitted as an inpatient by the doctor, even if the patient spends the night in a hospital. Inpatient days should be considered to be the number of days hospital beds are occupied by inpatients (from admission through discharge). An inpatient day begins at midnight and ends 24 hours later. A part of an inpatient day, including the day of admission, counts as a full inpatient day. The day of discharge or death is not counted as an inpatient day.

KPI Formula :

Total Cost of Inpatient And Outpatient Care / Number of Adjusted Inpatient Days