What is PLICS?

Patient-Level Information and Costing Systems (PLICS) are data collection and cost information tools used to collect and analyse patient data that will help measure and manage costs. They help NHS organisations make sense of the costs of delivering specific services to patients and find out where costs can be reduced or efficiencies can be maximised.

But how exactly do they work? And what makes them so beneficial for the NHS? We’ll be exploring this in this blog to help you make informed decisions about your own PLICS solution.

How do PLICS work?

PLICS collate data from a range of records and sources to give you intricate details into a patient’s diagnosis, treatment, length of stay at a hospital and more. Collecting patient data from diagnosis to treatment creates a granular and accurate picture of the associated costs that come with patient care– much more valuable than via traditional methods like top-down allocation costs.

PLICS can also calculate the cost of each patient’s care and treatment, allowing you to view patient variations in much greater detail. If you can leverage PLICS, you’ll find it incredibly powerful thanks to its ability to link cost data at patient level to guarantee optimal patient care outcomes. You can use this information to make informed decisions about treatments and resources for patients or even to negotiate insurance rate payments.

Benefits of using PLICS

PLICS can offer plenty of useful and accurate data on a case-by-case basis that exceeds the capabilities of traditional costing methods. Its range of benefits include:
• Gives managers and clinicians a detailed picture of costs to help them judge the legitimacy of costs across all patients.
• Shows any discrepancies that may be resulting in higher or lower costs across the organisation or pinpoint inefficiencies between teams to help determine what to do about them.
• Enhances the accuracy of budget projections and provides the necessary insights to model changes for patient groups.
• Highlights patient demographics and treatment pathways to optimise decision-making in resource allocation, process improvement and quality of care for patients.

PLICS use cases

PLICS data can be impactful in many instances, especially when validating cost variations. A successfully integrated PLICS will allow users to share their learnings on how to detect, diagnose and address cost variations across the wider organisation to change or improve costing processes.

To get a sense of just how much more than the NCC submission can be accomplished through a PLICS system, take a look at some of our client case studies:

• United Lincolnshire increase income through costing analysis
• Oxford Health save time and funding through detailed data analysis
• Driving service line improvements at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust

CACI as your PLICS provider

Making sure you have the tools to effectively engage with stakeholders across your organisation is at the heart of what we do. We help equip you with the necessary skills to get the most out of your patient costing solution, meet your requirements and improve patient outcomes.

CACI’s very own PLICS, Synergy, is a state-of-the-art patient level costing solution complete with fast calculation times, exception analysis with full audit trails and patient activity mapping. It also comes with prepopulated standards (datasets, cost allocations and methodologies), which will enable you to produce costs easily and efficiently at patient level.

It’s an easy-to-use, simple to set up solution that is highly secure (HSCN connected facility), with Healthcare Costing Standards configured.

To learn more about PLICS and how our costing system could help your organisation, visit our Synergy page.