Solutions
dTool: a mobile solution to support TDABC studies
The dTool is a mobile app solution to simplify the time data collection process by allowing health professionals to record their own data in real time.
The app has been used in microcosting analyses of: bone marrow transplant; stroke treatment, hip replacement surgery and a surgery pathway redesign study. Among those microcosting projects, dozens of hospitals from Brazil and USA are already using the solution.
The main features presented by dTool were: (i) anonymity of healthcare professional identity; (ii) authentication at device level; and (iv) multiple simultaneous users’ capability at a single device.
We believe that the dTool solution contributes to the improvement of healthcare service delivery, having the potential to turn TDABC studies scalable and accurate.
TDABC Tool for Bone Marrow Transplant
This tool was developed by the Researchers Bruna Zanotto and Ana Paula Etges
Through the database of a bone marrow transplantation (BMT) TDBAC micro-costing study, the data structuring intelligence in Excel and VBA was developed. The automation formulas were coded so that patient accounts extracted from hospital accounting information systems with the consumption of materials and medicines were analyzed in an automated way associating consumed resources with activities. The tool provides cost information per patient stratified by activities and resources in a single template, that changes the information to calculate costs based on the selection of each patient.
Cost-analysis dashboards are being continually monitored by researchers as patients are discharged, making the accessibility of cost information transparent. Using the tool reduces the manual work of organizing data on materials, drugs and exams by researchers by approximately 10 hours per patient analyzed and contributes to data reliability. The Cost tool kit has also been used for educational purposes, demystifying the complexity of micro-costing studies.
A Cost tool kit provides simplification of the ability to transmit cost information at an individual level per patient. Tools that assist in data analysis are key advances in guiding health management to value. In the search for scalability of micro-costing, the Cost Tool Kit has been in constant improvement to evaluate costs of other care lines.