Unit cost analysis of care and treatment for the patients with top 5 psychiatric diseases in the psychiatric ward at Ramathibodi Hospital, faculty of medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand.
Abstract:
This research was a cross-sectional and descriptive study. Its objective was to
analyse the unit cost per day and per admission of each of the top 5 psychiatric disorders at
the psychiatric ward of Ramathibodi hospital, Fiscal Year 2548. The top 5 psychiatric
disorders included: schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, depressive episodes, mental and
behavioural disorders due to alcohol consumption and reactions to severe stress and
adjustment disorders. Information concerning the cost of these illnesses was collected
retrospectively from patients medical records during October 2547 to September 2548 by
using developed instruments including forms about the patient treatment information, the
record of time allocation to each in-patient service, material cost, and capital cost. The data
were calculated by using a computer software programme.
This study revealed that the unit cost per day of schizophrenia (15.36 days in
average), bipolar affective disorder (17.00 days in average), depressive episode (12.78 days in
average), mental and behavioral disorders due to alcohol consumption (6.17 days in average)
and reaction to severe stress and adjustment disorders (4.55 days in average) were about
3,670.86, 3,631.63, 3,472.17, 4,175.44, and 3,931.45 Bahts respectively. In addition, the unit
costs per admission of those top 5 psychiatric disorders were about 56,388.44, 61,737.61,
44,367.78, 25,748.85 and 17,870.22 Bahts respectively. The Ministry of Public Health
announced a Universal Coverage Health Insurance Scheme in year 2001. Reimbursement for
outpatient services would be based on capitation while in-patient services would be paid by
Diagnostic Related Group (DRG), which was a prospective payment system. The concept of
DRG was that the relative weight reflects the average cost of providing services within that
group of DRG. However, the unit cost of one patient per admission regarding the DRG that
allocated to the Ramathibodi hospital by National Health Security Office (key purchaser) for
each psychiatric disorder were only about 15,027.67, 17,237.03, 10,904.33, 7,589.25, and
6,592.46 Bahts respectively. As the study results, the difference of the average cost of service
provision for each disorder that occurred at the Ramathibodi hospital was about 41,360.77,
44,505.58, 33,463.45, 18,159.60 and 11,277.54 Bahts per admission respectively.
The reimbursements were based only on the constant rate and relative weight of
DRG. The results of this study were indicated that determinants should be taken into
consideration for adjustment of the reimbursement rate to the Ramathibodi hospital. However,
factors that could be used to adjust the reimbursement rate must be carefully studied in detail
regarding the pros and cons that would affect every level of hospital services. The issues of
equity and management efficiency among hospital services are important points that should
not be overlooked and that need further study