European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

OPERATIONAL COSTS OF AN ACCREDITED TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

*Mannat Singh, Eknoor K. Naurath and Gurpreet Singh Battu

ABSTRACT

Costs of running a hospital are labelled as operational costs. These costs can be fixed costs or variable costs. Fixes costs are expenses that a hospital incurs even if it not admitting or treating any patients. Examples of fixed costs are – salary, rent, loan instalment, AMC/ CMC etc. Variable costs come into play only if the hospital is treating patients. Examples are – consumables, lab reagents, medicines etc. Tertiary care hospitals spend more on operational costs as compared to primary or secondary care centers for the reason that tertiary care hospitals have to install high end expensive equipment. Also, the trained and qualified staff to operate such equipment and look after critically sick patients come at a higher salary. Implementation of quality parameters also adds to costs. Accreditation is purely voluntary process. For general public and patients, accreditation is mark of quality treatment and ensures best practices. Expenses incurred on quality patient care may not be apparent to public, but they do add to patient safety.

Keywords: Operational Costs, Tertiary Care Hospital, Quality Accreditation.