DOH Clinical Costing Software for Abu Dhabi Healthcare

Why Clinical Costing Matters for Healthcare Providers

Clinical costing gives leaders and care teams a shared, defensible view of cost so decisions improve at every level. With a reconciled model, you can see where money is actually spent—by service line, specialty, pathway, and patient—rather than relying on averages.

Evidence-Based Decisions

That evidence strengthens tariff setting and payer negotiations, sharpens performance improvement, and grounds strategic choices about what to scale, redesign, outsource, or consolidate.

Value-Based Healthcare

Most importantly, linking costs with outcomes enables value-based healthcare: teams compare results achieved per currency unit and focus on improvements that matter for both patients and margins.

DOH Compliance

In Abu Dhabi's healthcare ecosystem, this is directly aligned with the value-based funding framework and the clinical costing standards and guidelines issued by the Abu Dhabi Department of Health (DOH).

Aligned with Abu Dhabi's Healthcare Vision

Our clinical costing solution is specifically designed to meet the value-based funding framework and clinical costing standards established by the Abu Dhabi Department of Health, ensuring full compliance and optimal outcomes.

Building Blocks of DOH Clinical Costing Standards in UAE

Before tooling and dashboards, align on fundamentals. These principles and processes are the foundation of clinical costing standards across Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

Cost Objects

What you're costing (patient, encounter, procedure, pathway, service line)

Cost Centers

Where costs are incurred (ICU, OR, radiology, pharmacy, clinics, admin)

Direct vs Indirect Costs

Direct costs are cleanly traceable to a patient (implants, contrast media, logged clinician time); indirect costs are shared overheads (housekeeping, IT, HR) that require allocation

Cost Drivers

Measurable factors that explain consumption (OR minutes, scans, bed-days)

Encounters & Activities

Describe the work performed, and the unit cost is the cost per activity unit (per nursing minute, per scan, per OR minute)

PLICS Integration

A PLICS (Patient-Level Information & Costing System) traces these activities and drivers to produce costs per patient

Essential Data for Clinical Costing Services in Abu Dhabi

Clinical & Operational Data

• EHR/EMR encounters
• Orders and procedure codes
• Diagnosis codes
• Timestamps and nursing notes
• Theatre logs
• Device usage records

Ancillary Systems

• Imaging systems
• Laboratory data
• Pharmacy records
• General ledger
• Payroll/rostering
• Fixed assets

Reference Masters

• Cost-center hierarchies
• Activity dictionaries
• RVUs/time standards
• Allocation rules
• Mapping tables
• Governance controls

In Abu Dhabi, providers should plan upstream mapping for clinical cost data collection so that costing results against financial statements reconcile and the cost data to the Department can be submitted accurately.

Implementation Strategies for DOH Clinical Costing Standards in Abu Dhabi

Step-down (top-down) allocation

Start from cost-center totals and allocate overheads to clinical areas, then to patients using volume drivers.

Fast Finance-friendly Less variability

Activity-Based Costing (ABC)

Define activities, measure volumes/resource use, compute unit costs, and multiply by each patient's activity counts.

Clinically intuitive Transparent Needs robust capture

Time-Driven ABC (TDABC)

Estimate capacity cost rates (cost/minute) and apply time equations that reflect complexity.

Scalable Nuanced Time dependent

Hybrid/PLICS (Recommended)

Directly trace what you can (implants, drugs, confirmed OR minutes) and use drivers for the rest.

Pragmatic balance Modern hospitals DOH aligned

Clinical Costing Framework: Step-by-Step

Scope & Design

Choose cost objects, define period, service lines, and accuracy targets

Map the Model

Build cost-center hierarchy, activity dictionary, overhead step-down order

Data Ingestion

Load GL, payroll, materials, extract encounters, fix coding gaps

PLICS Outputs

Produce per-patient, per-encounter cost breakdowns by component

Defensible Allocation Drivers and Levels of Clinical Costing Maturity

Building a robust clinical costing framework requires both defensible allocation drivers and a staged maturity model that aligns with clinical costing standards and value-based healthcare principles.

Defensible Allocation Drivers

Theatres

Confirmed OR minutes (not scheduled), with complexity adders

Wards

Patient-days by level (ICU/HDU/general)

Imaging/Labs

Modality-specific units (CT scans, MRI scans, test counts)

Clinician Time

E-rostering punches, time logs, or RVUs/time standards

Pharmacy

Dispensed items at patient level; otherwise charge codes

Overheads

Sq. meters (facilities), headcount (HR), tickets/incidents (IT), utility consumption

Level 1 (Good Enough)

Step-down overheads plus patient-level tracing for big-ticket items such as OR minutes, implants, and high-cost drugs.

Level 2 (Better)

Incorporates activity dictionaries and capacity rates for nursing, imaging, and labs to improve allocation accuracy.

Level 3 (Advanced)

Leverages TDABC time equations, predictive fill for missing timestamps, benchmarking by surgeon/diagnosis, and linking to outcomes/PROMS—ideal when aligning to costing standards and value-based funding models.

Progressive Maturity for Sustainable Value

By combining allocation drivers with progressive maturity levels, healthcare providers create defensible, scalable, and value-based costing systems. This approach ensures that patient-level data is accurate, benchmarking is meaningful, and clinical costing evolves in step with healthcare reforms and value-based funding requirements.

Governance Framework for DOH Clinical Costing Services

A strong governance framework is what transforms DOH clinical costing services from a one-off compliance exercise into a sustainable, value-driven capability.

Abu Dhabi Clinical Costing Requirements

Under the Abu Dhabi clinical costing guidelines, healthcare providers must ensure that every patient-level cost total reconciles to the general ledger (GL), with clearly documented exclusions and adjustments to guarantee transparency of healthcare costs.

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Reconciliation & Transparency

Patient-level cost data must reconcile with the GL, including exclusions and adjustments.

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Version Control

Models, drivers, and dictionaries require version control to prevent drift and ensure consistent application.

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Clinical Validation

Time assumptions and activity flows must be clinically validated to reflect real healthcare processes.

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Audit Trails

Every allocation rule, adjustment, and edit must be documented to maintain accountability.

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PHI Security

Protected Health Information (PHI) should be managed with role-based access and minimum necessary fields.

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Data Exchange Security

Health information exchange interfaces must be secured to protect sensitive clinical data.

Complete Clinical Costing Services Beyond Compliance

By embedding these practices, healthcare providers in Abu Dhabi can achieve complete Clinical Costing Services that go beyond compliance. With the guidance of health costing experts, organizations strengthen governance while aligning with DOH clinical costing standards and value-based frameworks.

100%

GL Reconciliation

Real-time

Cost Insights

Audit-ready

Documentation

DOH Clinical Costing Standards and Submission Requirements

Abu Dhabi's clinical costing standards are built to ensure meaningful cost data informs planning, procurement, and the value-based funding framework.

Abu Dhabi Provider Requirements

The clinical costing road map for staged maturity
A standardized clinical costing framework that defines cost objects, drivers, and reconciliation rules
Clinical cost data collection technical specifications for extract formats, field definitions, and mapping
Controls for clinical and financial data governance

Clinical Costing Services Scope

Clinical costing services provide the structure that makes patient-level costing possible. Patient-level costing involves tracing real resource use—staff time, consumables, and equipment—to each episode of care. This allows healthcare services to understand the true cost of treatment and link it with outcomes.

Submission Process

Data Collection

Implement DOH clinical cost data collection process

Framework Alignment

Align with DOH clinical costing framework

Technical Compliance

Meet DOH technical requirements for costing and compliance

Platform Submission

Submit accurate data via designated platform

Provider Coverage

Whether you are a hospital or a network of healthcare facilities providing direct patient care across the UAE, these costing services provide the framework to meet compliance with DOH standards and to deliver accurate clinical costs at patient level.

Hospitals Healthcare Networks UAE Facilities

Dedicated Costing Lead & Expert Support

A dedicated costing lead often guides the submission of cost data, helping providers align clinical and financial information. By doing so, healthcare providers strengthen healthcare finance, improve decision-making, and ensure that providers meet DOH standards.

Reliable

Patient-level data

Sustainable

Reporting framework

DOH

Standards compliance

How X-Opp Clinical Costing Helps

X-Opp Clinical Costing turns your costing design into operational reality through unified data integration, hybrid costing engines, and comprehensive governance frameworks.

Unified Data Connectors

X-Opp Clinical Costing turns your costing design into operational reality by ingesting clinical, operational, and financial data through prebuilt connectors. It links EHR/EMR encounters, RIS/PACS and LIS results, pharmacy dispensations, and theatre logs with the general ledger, payroll/rostering, fixed-asset registers, and materials management.

This unified pipeline maps everything to a clean activity dictionary so costs can be traced consistently from resource to activity to patient—ideal for end-to-end clinical costing and costing standards compliance.

Hybrid Costing Engine

At the core is a hybrid engine that blends direct tracing with Activity-Based Costing and Time-Driven ABC. High-value items—like implants, high-cost drugs, and confirmed OR minutes—are traced directly to patients.

Configurable drivers and time equations then allocate shared resources fairly across activities and encounters. The result is a transparent, clinically credible model that captures variability without becoming brittle.

Reconciliation & Auditability

Reconciliation guardrails ensure patient-level totals tie back to the GL, with explicit variance logs for any exclusions or timing differences. Every allocation rule, driver change, or dictionary update is versioned.

This discipline sustains trust in the numbers and supports repeatable monthly or quarterly runs, including DOH submission readiness for providers in Abu Dhabi.

Clinician Validation & Security

Clinician-friendly validation screens surface the assumptions that matter—nursing time, pathway steps, and activity flows—so care teams can confirm reality on the ground.

Role-based access, minimum-necessary PHI handling, and full change history protect sensitive data while enabling collaboration between clinical, finance, and operations users.

Insights & Reporting

Out of the box, dashboards show service-line profitability, DRG/HRG cost-to-tariff variance, and pathway cost segmentation. Teams can drill to staff, drugs, devices, labs, imaging, theatres, wards, and overhead components to pinpoint improvement opportunities.

Exports feed enterprise BI tools and payer negotiations, while cost-to-outcome views illuminate value hotspots and outliers—supporting a costing framework that advances the purpose of clinical costing in value-based care.

Clinical Costing Systems vs Services: Building Sustainable Compliance

Implementing clinical costing systems without expert support often leads to black-box outputs and weak adoption. A combined approach—specialized Clinical Costing Services plus configurable costing software—helps healthcare providers across the UAE and across Abu Dhabi build internal capability while meeting compliance with Abu Dhabi's submission requirements.

From appointing a clinical costing contact person to defining the platform to be used, a disciplined operating model keeps the costing process timely, reconcilable, and audit-ready.

Final Thoughts

Whether you are just beginning your costing journey or upgrading to the new Abu Dhabi clinical costing standard, the path is clear.

Align to Standards

DOH clinical costing standards compliance

Build Pipelines

Reliable clinical cost data pipelines

Choose Methods

Fit-for-purpose hybrid/TDABC

Embed Validation

Reconcile rigorously and validate clinically

Operationalize Clinical Costing with X-Opp

With X-Opp's unified connectors, hybrid engine, and submission-ready outputs, providers can operationalize dedicated clinical costing that meets DOH compliance, generates meaningful cost data, and advances patient care—today and as Abu Dhabi's healthcare ecosystem moves deeper into a value-based funding framework.

Stay Compliant, Never Miss a Deadline

Track your submission progress in real-time and ensure you meet all DOH requirements with our automated compliance monitoring system.

Live metrics update as your team uploads, validates, and submits data.

Why Choose X-Opp?

100% DOH Compliant

Built to meet all Department of Health requirements

Saves 70% Manual Effort

Automate tedious processes and focus on patient care

Designed for UAE Healthcare

Specifically built for healthcare providers in the UAE

Trusted by Hospitals & Clinics

Join hundreds of healthcare providers using X-Opp

Smart Clinical Costing for Smarter Healthcare Decisions

Trusted by Healthcare Providers

Clinical Costing Software for Healthcare Providers

Cost Accuracy

Processing Speed