Term: Cost Per Weighted Case (CPWC or CWC)

Glossary Definition

Last Updated: 2009-04-09

Definition:

A financial indicator that provides a measure of the cost to provide care to a "standard" hospital patient. It is a relative, average cost calculated by summing the weights assigned to all cases treated by a hospital, and dividing this number into the hospital's total patient expenditure. This may include inpatient costs only, or both inpatient and day surgery costs - for those that have discharge abstracts completed, depending on the scope of the study. It is used for describing and comparing the cost of care, as it removes the effects of differences in the acuity, severity and complexity of the populations served in different hospitals on the cost of providing care, and permits the assignment of a cost to each case that is discharged from a hospital. Cost per weighted case may be measured at multiple levels: hospital, Regional Health Authority (RHA), hospital type, province-wide.

Over time, this term is also referred to as the average cost per weighted case (ACPWC or ACWC) or hospital cost per weighted case (CPWC or CWC).

Related concepts 

• Calculating Hospital Costs Using Cost Per Weighted Case (CPWC) / Cost of a Standard Hospital Stay (CSHS) Values
• Hospital Care Cost Index
• Hospital Costing in the 1990's
• Hospital Costing: Using the 2009 Cost List for Manitoba Hospital Services
• Hospital Costing: Using the National Health Expenditure (NHEX) Database

Related terms 

• Benchmark Specific Total
• Cost - Inpatient hospital care/day surgery
• Cost of a Standard Hospital Stay (CSHS)
• Day Surgery Costs
• Efficiency Differences
• Hospital Case Costs
• Hospital Cost per Weighted Case (CPWC or CWC)
• Resource Intensity Weights (RIW™)
• Specific Case Costs
• Standardized Inpatient
• Total Weighted Cases (TWC)

References 

• Finlayson G, Roos NP, Jacobs P, Watson D. Using the Manitoba Hospital Management Information System: Comparing Average Cost Per Weighted Case and Financial Ratios of Manitoba Hospitals. The Next Step. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation, 2001. [Report] [Summary] (View)

Term used in 

• Finlayson G, Jacobs P, Watson D, Bogdanovic B. A Comparison of Preliminary and Adjusted Cost per Weighted Case Determinations for Manitoba Hospitals: Impact for Evaluation and Report Cards. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, 2001. [Report] [Summary] (View)
• Finlayson G, Nowicki D, Roos NP, Shanahan M, Black C. Hospital Case-Mix Costing Project: Using the Manitoba Management Information System: A first step. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation, 1999. [Report] [Summary] (View)
• Finlayson G, Reimer J, Dahl M, Stargardter M, McGowan K. The Direct Cost of Hospitalizations in Manitoba, 2005/06. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, 2009. [Report] [Summary] [Additional Materials] (View)
• Finlayson GS, Forget E, Ekuma O, Derksen S, Bond R, Martens P, De Coster C. Allocating Funds for Healthcare in Manitoba Regional Health Authorities: A First Step--Population-Based Funding. Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, 2007. [Report] [Summary] (View)