A cost analysis of adult Emergency Service in Şahinbey Research and Practice Hospital Emergency Department

In this study, we aimed to calculate the emergency service unit examinations costs of patients by using the administrative, financial, and medical data of Şahinbey Research and Practice Hospital in 2011.Every billed service and every documented income and expense for adult emergency services within the hospital?s Emergency Department, between January 1 and December 31, 2011 was included in the study. The conventional cost analyzing method was used to calculate the emergency service unit?s patient examination costs, based on this data. Microsoft Office Excel was used to carry out the analysis.In 2011, the total expenses of adult emergency services for the Gaziantep University Medical Faculty at Şahinbey Research and Practice Hospital was calculated to be 4,026,436.70 TL, including gross personnel salaries. The total income was calculated to be 3,682,551.21 TL. In the same year, the total loss was 343,885.49 TL. 46,15% of the total costs- which is a considerably large percentage, was personnel expenses. The average income SGK(a social security institution) gives to the hospital per unit patient (including the examine costs and all the procedures that patients go through) was calculated 49,47 TL Emergency service unit patient examination costs, including gross personnel salaries, were calculated to be 54.09 TL. Since personnel salary is paid from the head office?s budget, in a calculation not including gross salaries, the profit was determined to be 403,655.12 TL. Emergency service unit patient examination costs, excluding gross personnel salary, were calculated to be 44.05 TL. Personnel gross salary costs per unit patient were found to be 10.04 TL. Per unit patient personnel gross costs + contribution portion was detected as 15,50 TL In 2011, the emergency service unit examination price paid by SGK was 15.50 TL.Public hospitals should primarily aim to manage health and not to profit. Their primary task is to provide for the health needs of citizens in the best way possible. However, In order to be able to offer continuing, high-quality services, institutions should look after their income-expense balance ratios rather than their profits. In this context, institutions providing health services should also be considered and evaluated by management. In public hospitals, the most important question in cost analysis is whether to include personnel salaries paid from the main budget. Rather than the equal unit patient examine costs that is paid to the institution, seriousness of patients- illness, triage code of the illness and/or the approximate time that patients will be spending in the emergency service should determine the costs.