Abstract

ZUNIGA-JARA, Sergio  and  GUEDE, Jorge. Costs of Diagnosis-Related Group Payment Services in a Chilean Provincial Hospital. Cuad. Contab. [online]. 2013, vol.14, n.35, pp.463-480. ISSN 0123-1472.

In spite of its importance, there is lack of cost analysis of the Chilean public health system. This study was carried out on a Chilean provincial hospital and it suggests a practical cost-analysis methodology of Diagnosis-Related Group Payment (DRGP) services applicable to other public health institutions. As a result, it was found that the most profitable DRGP services are: normal labor, open cholecys-tectomy, unilateral cryptorchidism and cesarean section. On the other hand, simple abdominal hernia, tonsillectomy and prostate hyperplasia showed negative profitability. Because of that, this study recommends offering as many profitable services as possible, according to the available capacity of staff and facilities. These results are valid short to mid-term due to the periodical recalculations in unitary costs, which are needed to adhere to new economical and contractual conditions

Keywords : Hospital costs; Diagnosis-Related Group Payment; services; economy, health; Health systems-Chile; public health; cost analysis; hospital-economics.

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