The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Financial and Performance Indicators of Hospitals: A Case Study in Tehran, Iran

The COVID-19 caused many changes in the performance and productivity of health service providers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial and performance indicators of one of the hospitals in Tehran.

This historical cohort study was conducted in the first 6 months of 2018 as the pre-pandemic period and the first 6 months of 2019 as the post-pandemic period. 13 performance indicators of inpatient departments; 9 operational indicators of the whole hospital and 3 financial indicators were included in the study. The data were received in a pre-designed Excel form from the statistics unit and quality improvement unit of the hospital, and after entering SPSS and checking their normality, they were analyzed with Wilcoxon's non-parametric test.

Average indices of bed circulation (P=0.028), discharged patients (P=0.028) and hospitalized patients (P=0.046) were significantly reduced. The index of death before 24 hours (P=0.027) and after 24 hours (P=0.028) and ED discharge (P=0.028) also increased significantly. The average profit of the hospital at the current price and the actual price had increased significantly (P=0.028). Total current income increased, but real income decreased, which were not significant. Current and real costs were also reduced, only the real cost reduction was significant (P=0.028).

The COVID-19 had a significant impact on the hospital's financial and performance indicators. It’s necessary for hospital managers to have an appropriate model for the development of services and the sustainability of resources during a crisis.