Analysis of Direct Costs of COVID-19 Treatment at Imam Sajjad Hospital in Shahriar

Forough  Jalali; Leila  Riahi; Sajjad  Barkhordari Dorbash

doi:10.18502/jebhpme.v8i4.18584

Forough Jalali Department of Health Services Management, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Leila Riahi Department of Health Services Management, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Sajjad Barkhordari Dorbash Department of Applied Economics, School of Economics, university of tehran, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jebhpme.v8i4.18584

Keywords: COVID-19, Treatment Costs, Hospital, Wilcoxon, Regression

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 virus (Corona) is recognized as one of the greatest global health challenges in the 21st century. In addition to its unwanted effects on individual health, this disease has also had significant financial and economic impacts. Hospitals, as the most important centers for providing health services, play a very vital role.

Methods: This study investigated and analyzed direct costs of treating COVID-19 in Imam Sajjad (AS) State Hospital in Shahriar. To this end, after performing the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and confirming the non-normality of data distribution, non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used.

Results: The results showed that the hypothesis of normality of the data distribution for the age parameter was rejected. Also, comparisons showed that gender and age variables had an impact on treatment costs, while having an underlying disease and disease severity had no significant impact on costs. In regression analyses, costs of testing, medication, CT scan, radiology, and echocardiography had an impact on the total cost of treatment. Moreover, the cost paid by insurance was strongly correlated with the total cost of treatment.

Conclusion: The analyses showed that some factors such as gender, age, and specific costs such as testing and medications had an impact on treatment costs. These findings can help improve financial resource management in dealing with similar diseases.