Estimation of the total costs and per capita package of family physician services in Fars and Mazandaran provinces in 2023

The estimation of the unit cost and per capita of family physician services is one of the influential factors in the decision-making process of healthcare system managers to determine appropriate tariffs for these services. This study aims to calculate the unit cost and per capita of family physician service packages in the Fars and Mazandaran provinces in 2023.

This applied research was conducted with a cross-sectional and retrospective approach in 2023. The study population consisted of family physicians working in the Fars and Mazandaran provinces. Sampling was carried out using a stratified and purposive method. The required data were obtained from two different sources, including interviews with family physicians and data from the Iranian Society of General Practitioners, the Statistical Center of Iran, and the Central Bank of Iran. The data were analyzed using Excel software.

The total annual cost of a family physician’s clinic was 10.05 billion rials. Out of this total cost, 47.7% was allocated to the technical component and 52.3% to the professional component. Considering the number of minutes of clinic activity in a year, the unit cost per minute was calculated to be 73,500 Rials. Taking into account the average population covered by the examined physicians, if all attending patients are considered to be within their coverage, the per capita cost would be 322,400 Rials. However, if it is assumed that 85% of the attending patients are covered by the physician, the per capita cost would be approximately 274,000 Rials.

Comparing the per capita obtained for family physician services with the approved per capita by the Council of Ministers has shown a significant difference. This difference indicates that the approved per capita is much lower than the unit cost of per capita. Therefore, it appears necessary to revise and reconsider the per capita for family physician service package.