The Value of CHNC Membership and its Database

CHND is the largest clinically valid data set for this unique patient population. In addition to clinical outcomes, CHND records have been previously linked to PHIS (CHA’s administrative dataset) to analyze cost variation for disease-specific patient populations. CHND can be linked to the US Child Opportunity Index, allowing investigation of the impact of social determinants of health on clinical neonatal outcomes. We have opportunities to link data and analyses to other organizations and databases to provide patients, providers, and organizations with comparative data on both clinical outcomes and resource utilization in these medically complex infants.

Medically complex infants represent 23% of the patient days and 21% of the charges of a Children’s Hospital.

The US spends approximately 20% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care. Since the population health of medically complex infants is a focus for our hospitals, the value of delivered health care must be assessed. NICU patients in Children’s Hospitals represent only 7-8% of the patient population for these hospitals, but because of their complex care needs and long length of stay, this patient population represents 23% of the patient days and 21% of the charges of a Children’s Hospital. It's imperative that we invest in and apply key clinical resources like CHND, to improve the quality of care and optimize expenditures in the care of medically complex children.