Activity-Based Costing Management and Hospital Cost in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, is an important economic burden due to hospitalizations, incapacity to work, and disability. The present study aimed to demonstrate one-year activity-based costing of services provided by service-providing centers of Yedikule Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, which provides services for a wide region, and to present the share of COPD in this cost. Method: Income and expense cost sheets of the year 2011 of the hospital was reviewed. The activity-based costing system was used for calculations. After the identification of the main service centers's expenses of the hospital, the annual expenditure of each unit was calculated. The cost of COPD patients was calculated based on the expenditures of the units caring for COPD patients. The cost per unit of services like radiography, laboratory and pulmonary function tests was calculated and added to the cost of COPD patients. Results: Annual cost according to the activity-based costing system was found to be 3,839,788.32 US Dollars ($) for COPD patients examined and treated as inpatient (2,531,290.9 $), or at emergency room (586,170.7 $), or at respiratory intensive care unit (419,282.11$), or at polyclinics (303,044.5. It accounted for 19.5% of one-year hospital cost (total annual hospital cost was 20,055,400.8 US Dollars). Conclusion: The rising economic burden of COPD corralates with acute exacerbations. As COPD is a high-cost disease, measures should be of priority to reduce economic burden of the disease.