Investigating the changes in the share of financing sources of patient billing costs during the time of Covid-19 compared to before

 One of the interesting and challenging topics in healthcare systems is the methods of financing the costs of patient treatment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the share of financial resources for patient treatment may have changed. This study was conducted to examine the changes in the share of financial resources for patients’ hospital bills during the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods.

 This descriptive-analytical study was conducted with an practical approach. The research environment was two the COVID-19 referral hospitals at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. A total of 305,382 files were reviewed. The main source for data collection was the hospital information system. Data analysis was performed using Excel 2017 and SPSS version 25 software, using the Mann-Whitney test at a significance level of 0.05.

 The results showed that the share of basic insurance in the pre-COVID-19 period and in the covid-19 period was 70% and 72%, respectively(P=0.09). The ratio of health subsidy share decreased from 4.8 in the pre-COVID-19 period to 2.2 in the COVID-19 period (P<0.001). The ratio of patient payment share compared to the total files amount for internal-infectious patients increased by about 7% in the COVID-19 period compared to the pre-COVID-19 period (P<0.001).

 The results of the study indicate that with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the share of each financial resource in the patient’s bill has changed. The increase in the share of COVID-19 patients highlights the need for structured programs to protect the financial interests of healthcare recipients during potential crises in the future.