The cost database is a tool for health policymakers and analysts who need information on the unit costs of health services. The database provides information on the economic costs of outpatient visits and inpatient stays at different levels of the health system. The database is developed by the Department of Community Medicine & School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh with technical support from the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI). The data has been collected in two rounds using a standardized methodology. In other costing studies, data from 167 health facilities including district hospitals, community health centres, primary care centres and sub-health centres located in 6 different states of India (Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Odisha, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) was collected. Further, Cost of health services in India (CHSI) Study (Ongoing, 2020) data provides cost data from 74 secondary and tertiary care hospitals, segregated at public and private levels of healthcare delivery) across 11 states. The data collection is the result of work done in consortium by PGIMER, the Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
The database has been designed with a user-friendly interface. Users can select the required data they need using a series of drop-down menus. All cost values presented are mean values across the facility level or state and are presented with confidence intervals generated using the bootstrap method. The costs are in Indian National Rupee (₹) for the reference year used in the data collection.
