Accurate charge capture and cost allocation: cost justification for bedside computing.

This paper shows that cost justification for bedside clinical computing can be made by recouping charges with accurate charge capture. Twelve months worth of professional charges for a sixteen bed surgical intensive care unit are computed from charted data in a bedside clinical database and are compared to the professional charges actually billed by the unit. A substantial difference in predicted charges and billed charges was found. This paper also discusses the concept of appropriate cost allocation in the inpatient environment and the feasibility of appropriate allocation as a by-product of bedside computing.