The use of the transition cost accounting system to compare costs of treatment between Canada and the United States : methodological issues based on the case of acute myocardial infarction

The Transition cost accounting system integrates clinical, resource utilization, and financial information and is currently being used by several hospitals in Canada and the United States (U.S.) to calculate the costs of patient care. The potential use of the Transition system for estimating in-hospital costs in health services research, however, depends on the accuracy of the system's measurements. Thus, the objectives of this thesis were (1) to assess the use of hospital-based cost accounting systems to measure costs of treatment, (2) to identify potential sources of measurement error inherent to the Transition system methodology, (3) to collect audit documentation in order to evaluate the accuracy of the Transition system's information, and to collect cost of treatment data from Canadian and U.S. hospitals in order to illustrate the system's use in health services research, and (4) to discuss the potential use of the Transition system in health services research in Canada and the U.S. (Abstract shortened by UMI.