Investigation of the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic on the cost structure of hospitals: The example of a Diyarbakır private hospital

Determining the costs incurred in hospitals is important for the continuity of health service and health business. In hospitals that perform a complex service production, it is very important for hospital managers to calculate the costs and to know the treatment cost of a patient who comes for treatment. Knowing the cost of treatment for a patient who comes to be treated by hospital managers will help them make the right managerial decisions. Whether there was any change in the unit costs of private hospitals during the pandemic period was examined within the scope of this research and the differences were tried to be determined. In this context, a comparison of the unit patient costs of 2020, covering the 2019 pandemic period, including the pre-pandemic period, was provided. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the hospital costs such as calculating the share of a patient from the doctor, nurse and other personnel wages, determining the consumption costs such as cotton, bandage and syringes consumed per patient, and it is aimed to reveal the differences of this situation compared to the previous periods in the context of the pandemic. Based on the various costs that may arise in a hospital, the cost of each treatment service for the treatment of a patient has been examined and calculated in detail. When the factors affecting hospital unit costs during the pandemic period are evaluated, the items that make the most difference are; cleaning, consumables and personnel expenses. The reason for this is that the increase in these items during the pandemic period increases the unit costs. In addition, the postponement of some surgeries during the pandemic period caused an increase in the costs falling on the expense centers, causing some departments to lose. Keywords: Pandemic, Hospital, Cost Accounting