A comparison of the direct cost of care in an open-bay and single-family room NICU

This research examined the proposition that the direct costs of care were no different in an open-bay (OPBY) as compared with a single-family room (SFR) neonatal intensive care (NICU) environment. This was a sequential cohort study. General linear models were implemented using clinical and cost data for all neonates admitted to the two cohorts studied. Costs were adjusted to year 2007 U.S. dollars. Models were constructed for the unadjusted regression and subsequently by adding demographic variables, treatment variables, length of respiratory support and length of stay. With the exception of the last, none were found to achieve significance. The full model had R2=0.799 with P=0.0095 and predicted direct costs of care less in the SFR NICU. For the time, location and administrative practices in place, this study demonstrates that care can be provided in the SFR NICU at no additional cost as compared with OPBY NICU.