Cost-income analysis of oral health units of health care centers in Yazd city

Increasing demands for health care's services on one hand and limited resources on the other hand brings about pressure over governments to find out a mechanism for fair and appropriate distribution of resources. Economic analysis is one of the appropriate tools for policy making on this priority. The aim of this study was to assess capital and consumption of oral health units of health care centers in Yazd city and comparing it with revenue of these centers and determining of cost effectiveness. In this descriptive cross sectional study, all health care centers of Yazd city with active dentistry department were evaluated. The data has been extracted from current documents in health care center of county based issued receipts and daily information registers. Expended cost for providing of oral hygiene services in second half of 2008 in 13 medical health centers of Yazd included active dentistry section was 557.887.500 Rials and revenue to cost ratio was about 34%. The most provided service was related to tooth extraction and the average of tooth restoration in each working day was 0.48. With attention to low tariffs of dentistry services in medical health centers and paying subsidy to target groups, expenses of oral hygiene are always more than its revenue.