Clinical Costing Standards

Abstract

Standards are part of our lives. Clinical costing is no exception in this regard. Clinical costing standards are published documents comprising specifications and procedures to build consistent datasets for statutory purposes. The Independent Hospital Pricing Authority publishes and updates Australian Hospital Patient Costing Standards. The standards ensure compatibility and credibility. The standards formulate a consistent and transparent way to process costing. Compliance represents the production of reliable information which could be compared locally, nationally, and internationally. Health professionals could utilize these standards-compliant datasets for testing clinical guidelines for patient safety, developing patient classification systems for counting clinical services, and setting national efficient price for public hospital funding. The ultimate goal is to improve healthcare delivery in an equitable way and reduce human suffering.