The Cost and Length of a Stay in Different Hospital Departments: An Analytical Study in Iran

Senior hospital managers needs to accurate information on the financial resources and facilities to effectively manage their organization. The objective of this study was to investigate the annual statistical characteristics of patients admitted to a referral hospital in Iran. In this study, all patients admitted to Mashhad Imam Reza Hospital in 2012 were studied. Data including age, gender and length of stay obtained from the informatics unit and daily cost of stay calculated by the accounting unit were entered into a statistical software. The daily cost of hospital stay in each department was calculated based on daily bed charge, the average cost of drugs and ancillary medical services (such as radiography or physiotherapy). During 2012, 54,181 patient/admissions (50.3% female) were reported from Mashhad Imam Reza Hospital. The mean (SD) age of the patients was 40.6 (22.8) years. The highest number of patient/admissions was reported from medical toxicology (7488, 13.8%) and urology (6259; 11.6%) departments. Mean age of patients admitted to internal medicine emergency section and (64.3) and CCU#1 (62) was the highest. The longest duration of hospital stay was found in Infectious disease intensive care unit (ICU) with average of 493.9 hours and the shortest length of stay was noted in medical toxicology department (53.6 hours). The highest cost of hospital stay was related to cardiac surgery ICU ($1,664) followed by cardiac surgery department ($952) and the lowest cost was related to psychosomatic ($41) and medical toxicology ($84) departments. There was a significant correlation between length of stay and hospital costs (P < 0.001). There was also a significant direct correlation between patient's age and length of stay (P < 0.001). Providing equitable health services can be achievable by using precise reliable statistical information. By devising hospital protocols for various diseases (rational drug administration and definition of time to discharge), healthcare maximization and reduction in unnecessary healthcare costs can be achieved.