Trend and Factors Affecting Inpatient and Outpatient Revenue of Hospitals during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of a COVID-19 Treatment Center in Tehran, Iran

Identifying factors affecting the financial aspects of hospital is an important step for its strategic control. Therefore, this study aimed to assessment the trend and determinants of inpatient and outpatient revenue in a COVID-19 patient s’ treatment center.

The present study was a descriptive-analytical research by applying time series analysis. Raw data on the hospital income (by inpatient and outpatient) and the potential factors were gathered monthly by referring to the administrative departments of the hospital, during 2015-2020. Dickey-fuller unit root test was used to measure stationary trend of the variables. The auto-regression distributed lagged model (ARDL) was used to study the effect of independent variables on hospital income. All analyzes were performed in Eviews software.

During the study period, on average 73.65% of hospital revenues were related to inpatient income and the rest were outpatient income. The total revenue trend of the hospital at the current price has increased significantly from April 2015 to august 2020
(P<0.0001), while this at the fixed price has decreased significantly (P<0.0001). At the beginning of the admission of a Covid-19 patient (February 2020), the hospital income has decreased significantly and after three months in May 2020, it has returned to its long-term trend. The results showed that inpatient and outpatient income was significantly affected by the variables of quantity of service, quality of care and hospital performance indicators (P<0.05).

Hospital revenue was significantly declined at the commence of Covid-19 pandemic. Increasing the capacity of intensive care beds, raising hotel service tariffs, changing insurance policies and supporting upstream organizations can be effective strategies to control the economic consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic on hospitals.