A Cost Model for a Low-Threshold Clinic Treating Opioid Use Disorder.

The US fee-for-service payment system under-reimburses clinics offering access to comprehensive treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD). The funding shortfall limits a clinic's ability to expand and improve access, especially for socially marginalized patients with OUD. New payment models, however, should reflect the high variation in cost for using a clinic's clinical and voluntary psychosocial and recovery support services. The authors applied time-driven activity-based costing, a patient-level, micro-costing approach, to estimate the cost at an outpatient clinic that delivers medication for opiate used disorder (MOUD) and voluntary psychosocial and recovery support services. Much of the cost variation could be explained by classifying patients into three archetypes: (1) light touch (1-3 visits): no significant co-occurring psychiatric illness, stable housing, and easy to connect for ongoing OUD treatment in a traditional outpatient setting; (2) standard (average of 8 visits): initially requires an integrated team-based care model but soon stabilizes for transition to community-based outpatient care; (3) quad morbidity (> 20 visits): multiple co-occurring substance use disorders, unhoused, co-occurring medical and psychiatric complexity, and limited social supports. With the cost of the initial visit set at an indexed value of 100, an average light touch patient had a cost of 352, a standard patient was 718, and a quad morbidity patient was 1701. The cost structure revealed by this analysis provides the foundation for alternative payment models that would enable new MOUD clinics, staffed with multi-disciplinary care teams, and located for convenient access by high-risk patients, to be established and sustained.

Prospective Evaluation of the Cost of Performing Breast Imaging Examinations Using a Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing Method: A Single-Center Study.

OBJECTIVE: Measuring the cost of performing breast imaging is difficult in healthcare systems. The purpose of our study was to evaluate this cost using time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) and to evaluate cost drivers for different exams. METHODS: An IRB-approved, single-center prospective study was performed on 80 female patients presenting for breast screening, diagnostic or biopsy exams from July 2020 to April 2021. Using TDABC, data were collected for each exam type. Included were full-field digital mammography (FFDM), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM), US and MRI exams, and stereotactic, US-guided and MRI-guided biopsies. For each exam type, mean cost and relative contributions of equipment, personnel and supplies were calculated. RESULTS: Screening MRI, CEM, US, DBT, and FFDM costs were $249, $120, $83, $28, and $30. Personnel was the major contributor to cost (60.0%-87.0%) for all screening exams except MRI where equipment was the major contributor (62.2%). Diagnostic MRI, CEM, US, and FFDM costs were $241, $123, $70, and $43. Personnel was the major contributor to cost (60.5%-88.6%) for all diagnostic exams except MRI where equipment was the major contributor (61.8%). Costs of MRI-guided, stereotactic and US-guided biopsy were $1611, $826, and $356. Supplies contributed 40.5%-49.8% and personnel contributed 30.7%-55.6% to the total cost of biopsies. CONCLUSION: TDABC provides assessment of actual costs of performing breast imaging. Costs and contributors varied across screening, diagnostic and biopsy exams and modalities. Practices may consider this methodology in understanding costs and making changes directed at cost savings.

It's Not Just the Prices: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing for Initiation of Veno-Venous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation at Three International Sites-A Case Review.

The United States spends more for intensive care units (ICUs) than do other high-income countries. We used time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) to analyze ICU costs for initiation of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV ECMO) for respiratory failure to estimate how much of the higher ICU costs at 1 US site can be attributed to the higher prices paid to ICU personnel, and how much is caused by the US site's use of a higher cost staffing model. We accompanied our TDABC approach with narrative review of the ECMO programs, at Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière (Paris), and The Alfred Hospital (Melbourne) from 2017 to 2019. Our primary outcome was daily ECMO cost, and we hypothesized that cost differences among the hospitals could be explained by the efficiencies and skill mix of involved clinicians and prices paid for personnel, equipment, and consumables. Our results are presented relative to Los Angeles' total personnel cost per VV ECMO patient day, indexed at 100. Los Angeles' total indexed daily cost of care was 147 (personnel: 100, durables: 5, and disposables: 42). Paris' total cost was 39 (26% of Los Angeles) (personnel: 12, durables: 1, and disposables: 26). Melbourne's total cost was 53 (36% of Los Angeles) (personnel: 32, durables: 2, and disposables: 19) (rounded). The higher personnel prices at Los Angeles explained only 26% of its much higher personnel costs than Paris, and 21% relative to Melbourne. Los Angeles' higher staffing levels accounted for 49% (36%), and its costlier mix of personnel accounted for 12% (10%) of its higher personnel costs relative to Paris (Melbourne). Unadjusted discharge rates for ECMO patients were 46% in Los Angeles (46%), 56% in Paris, and 52% in Melbourne. We found that personnel salaries explained only 30% of the higher personnel costs at 1 Los Angeles hospital. Most of the cost differential was caused by personnel staffing intensity and mix. This study demonstrates how TDABC may be used in ICU administration to quantify the savings that 1 US hospital could achieve by delivering the same quality of care with fewer and less-costly mix of clinicians compared to a French and Australian site. Narrative reviews contextualized how the care models evolved at each site and helped identify potential barriers to change.

CLIC4 regulates apical exocytosis and renal tube luminogenesis through retromer- and actin-mediated endocytic trafficking.

Chloride intracellular channel 4 (CLIC4) is a mammalian homologue of EXC-4 whose mutation is associated with cystic excretory canals in nematodes. Here we show that CLIC4-null mouse embryos exhibit impaired renal tubulogenesis. In both developing and developed kidneys, CLIC4 is specifically enriched in the proximal tubule epithelial cells, in which CLIC4 is important for luminal delivery, microvillus morphogenesis, and endolysosomal biogenesis. Adult CLIC4-null proximal tubules display aberrant dilation. In MDCK 3D cultures, CLIC4 is expressed on early endosome, recycling endosome and apical transport carriers before reaching its steady-state apical membrane localization in mature lumen. CLIC4 suppression causes impaired apical vesicle coalescence and central lumen formation, a phenotype that can be rescued by Rab8 and Cdc42. Furthermore, we show that retromer- and branched actin-mediated trafficking on early endosome regulates apical delivery during early luminogenesis. CLIC4 selectively modulates retromer-mediated apical transport by negatively regulating the formation of branched actin on early endosomes.