No abstract

Health care systems aim to deliver high-quality medical care while considering efficient resource usage and cost-effective forms of interventions. Such purposes require scientific tools or mechanisms which aid in cost assessment before the efforts of cost reduction are considered. Diagnosis-related groups based costing methodology (Case-mix) is considered one of the preferred costing approaches in the health care sector. King Fahd Central hospital Jazan, the only tertiary hospital in the Jazan region, was selected for case-mix system-based patient-level costing of health services. The study’s objective was to estimate the cost per Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) per inpatient admission and compare it with the already established average cost of health care services for inpatients. We applied a cross-sectional retrospective approach to categorize the inpatients based on their diagnosis and procedures and then estimate the actual cost of health care services provided to inpatients during 2018 and compared it with the average cost of the health services. There was a considerable difference between DRG-based costing (SAR 269,663,897) and average costing (SAR 247,035,938). The Diagnosis Related Group costing was found to be more reliable and representative of the services provided to the patients and is recommended to be used for reimbursement purposes.

Background: Costing information can help to improve the quality of medical care budgeting. It can also improve the efficient allocation of resources and patient outcomes. In recent years, cost analysis studies have increased awareness of hospital cost structures that are considered important to improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. The objective of this study was to estimate the inpatient unit cost of healthcare services in a secondary hospital, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A cross-sectional retrospective approach was applied to categorize the inpatients discharged from the hospital from January 2018 to December 2018. A top-down costing method for cost estimation was applied because it is less time-consuming, cheaper, and at the same time, provides an accurate method for the regular hospital costing exercise. Results: The hospital departments were divided into three cost centers, namely, overhead center, intermediate cost center and final care cost center. We found that the overhead cost center that includes the supporting departments of the hospital holds 40.17% of the total hospital cost. Intermediate cost center and final care cost center consumed 25.50% and 34.33% respectively. Among inpatients wards, the Surgical ward had the highest operational cost (39.27%) as well as had the highest per patient cost. Human resource consumed highest resources (75%) of the hospital in terms of salaries. Conclusion: The cost structure of the hospital was not remarkable and needs revolutionary changes to adopt the new payment mechanism envisioned in 2030 Saudi vision. However, this study can be used as benchmark to conduct costing studies in other hospitals of the country.