NSA: Costs of Nutrition Screening (2018)
While payers and administrators recognize the excess costs of caring for malnourished patients, understanding the costs of the malnutrition creening process would be useful in allocating resources. Very limited data on the costs of the malnutrition (undernutrition) screening procedure were found and are presented below.
Additional research is encouraged to better understand the costs and benefits of malnutrition screening, especially within the US healthcare system. Determining the costs of malnutrition screening, assessment, diagnosis, and intervention would be valuable to administrators who develop staffing models for malnutrition screening programs so that adequate follow-up is available. Thus, researchers should collect data on the cost of screening procedures, the costs of inaccurate screening tests, and the impact of interventions for individuals in which screening results indicate a risk for malnutrition.