The dynamics of health care resource utilization

Many pharmacoeconomic studies suffer from issues relating to the sensitivity of data and ability to accurately determine treatment-related costs. In addition, cost data generally are treated as static or constant variables. Our goal was to develop an approach to cost analysis that would allow us to appreciate the dynamic nature of health care resource utilization. By collecting detailed cost data on a daily basis and focusing on a narrow interval encompassing the infectious process, we were able to detect changes in resource utilization associated with management of the infectious process. This method also allowed us to assess and compare the dynamics of resource utilization among various patient groups.