A tale of two cities: hospitalization costs in 1897 and 1997.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the hospitalization day price, and the hospitalization costs 100 years ago with the present situation.


METHODS
Municipal and hospital archives of two cities, Maastricht in The Netherlands and Tongeren in Belgium, were studied systematically for reports of costs. These were compared with the present accounts.


RESULTS
Starting from the second part of the nineteenth century, an official day price was calculated each year by averaging the total hospital expenditures by the total number of hospitalization days. Of all expenditures, nutrition accounted for nearly 50% of expenses. Differences with the current situation are striking. Nowadays, the day price is a negotiated tariff. Management and salaries make up more than 70% of the present expenditures.


CONCLUSIONS
Hospitalization day prices have been used for approximately 150 years to determine hospitalization costs. Since then, the total hospital expenditures and the relative cost components have changed considerably. Compared with the spending power of people, the cost of one day in the hospital increased substantially.
Boonen
Annelies
A
Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands. Aboo@sint.azm.nl
Severens
Johannes L
JL
van der Linden
Sjef
S
D001530:Belgium; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends*; D009426:Netherlands