title: Reducing health care costs by rationalizing staffing in primary care settings.
abstract: Jordan spends around 9% of its GDP on health care services, a high figure compared with similar developing countries. This study assessed staffing patterns in relation to Ministry of Health expenditures in a nationally representative sample of 97 primary care facilities. The economic costs of primary care facilities amounted to Jordanian dinar (JD) 42.3 million. Personnel costs consumed 53.8% of recurrent costs and in monetary terms the amount of down time (time not being used effectively) amounted to JD 9.7 million (about US$ 13.7 million). The Ministry should consider changing the functioning of its primary care facilities to obtain a more cost-effective use of staff time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mawajdeh
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Khoury
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yoder
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qtaishat
mesh_terms: D003363:Cost Control; D017046:Cost Savings; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000191:economics*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000191:economics*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics; D013597:Systems Analysis; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D000078329:Workforce