title: Comparison of Patient Costs in Internal Medicine and Anaesthesiology Intensive Care Units in a Tertiary University Hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The allocation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to health is limited, therefore it has made a need for professional management of health business. Hospital managers as well as employees are required to have sufficient knowledge about the hospital costs. Hospital facilities like intensive care units that require specialization and advanced technology have an important part in costs. For this purpose, cost analysis studies should be done in the general health business and special units separately.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study we aimed to compare the costs of anaesthesiology and internal medicine intensive care units (ICU) roughly.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After approval of this study by Gazi University Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee, the costs of 855 patients that were hospitalized, examined and treated for at least 24 hours in internal medicine and anaesthesiology ICUs between January 2012-August 2013 (20 months period) were taken and analyzed from chief staff of the Department of Information Technology, Gazi University Hospital.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At the end of the study, we observed clear differences between internal medicine and anaesthesiology ICUs arising from transactions and patient characteristics of units. We stated that these differences should be considered by Social Security Institution (SSI) for the reimbursement of the services. Further, we revealed that SSI payments do not meet the intensive care expenditure.
authors.affiliation: Minor Intensive Care Training Program, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: İskender
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Kara
authors.affiliation: Minor Intensive Care Training Program, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yıldırım
authors.affiliation: Gazi Hospital Management Information Technology Department, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Dilek Yumuş
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Başak
authors.affiliation: Minor Intensive Care Training Program, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hamit
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Küçük
authors.affiliation: Minor Intensive Care Training Program, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Melda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Türkoğlu
authors.affiliation: Minor Intensive Care Training Program, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gülbin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aygencel
authors.affiliation: Minor Intensive Care Training Program, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: İsmail
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Katı
authors.affiliation: Minor Intensive Care Training Program, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Lale
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Karabıyık
keywords: Cost analysis; intensive care; reimbursement