Lecture 2 - Measuring And Estimating Costs Flashcards
what is “true cost” of a resource?
its opportunity cost
is the price charged to a payer always synonymous with the cost of a product or service?
explain with an example
NO
In a hospital, 3 costs are considered
1. what is the total cost to the hospital
2. how much is charged to the payer
3. how much is actually collected from the payer
total cost to hospital =$1000
hospital charges payer $2000
payer actually pays $1500
what are the 4 types of cost categorization
- Direct medical
- direct nonmedical
- indirect
- intangible
give examples of direct NONmedical costs
cost of travel
cost of childcare services for the children of the patient
food and lodging costs for out of town treatment
give the definition of direct nonmedical costs
costs to patients and their families that are directly associated with the treatment but are not medical in nature
what are indirect costs?
costs that result from the loss of productivity because of illness or death
give EXAMPLES of indirect costs
-loss of productivity for patient (out of work for the day)
-loss of productivity for unpaid caregiver (family, neighbor)
-loss of productivity because of premature mortality (cant work anymore)
what are intangible costs
costs of pain, suffering, anxiety, or fatigue that occur because of an illness or the treatment of the illness
why are intangible costs particularly difficult to measure?
because it’s hard to place monetary value on these types of costs
to determine which costs are important to measure, the ___ of the study must be determine
perspective
patient
provider
insurer
society
Conventional economic theory suggests that the most appropriate and comprehensive perspective is—
societal perspective
WHY is societal perspective considered the most appropriate in CONVENTIONAL ECONOMIC THEORY?
because it includes:
cost to insurance company
costs to patient
other sector costs
indirect costs
Conventional economic theory suggests that societal perspective is the most appropriate perspective, but is it usually used in a pharmacoeconomic study? why or why not
NO because it is difficult and time consuming to estimate all of these cost components.
also, researchers are usually not interested in the overall costs
standardization of costs is bringing….
PAST COSTS to the PRESENT
discounting is bringing…
FUTURE COSTS to the PRESENT
