RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To determine the economic burden of road traffic accidents (RTAs) in patients admitted to a single center in south eastern Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Amir-Al-Momenin hospital of Zabol affiliated with Zabol University of Medical Sciences during a 12-month period from April 2012 to April 2013. All the RTAs patients who were admitted to our emergency department were included. The direct expenses of hospital care were recorded according to their medical charts and the accountant registration information. Data are presented according to different RTAs characteristics. RESULTS: Overall 1155 patients were included in the current study with mean age of 36.7 ± 5.14 years among whom there were 673(58.3%) men and 482 (41.7%) women. The annual incidence of RTAs were calculated to be 288 per 100,000 population. The RTAs economic burden in our center was 589,448.49 USD which accounted for 10.4% of total hospital expenses during the study period. The money spend on RTAs in our center was 130 times more than gross national income per capita. Cost of each patient in road traffic was 15 times more than cost of an average patient of the hospital in other sections. CONCLUSION: With considerable high ratio of accidents in Zabol, proper intervention is needed for controlling and preventing RTAs in order to decrease its injuries, impact and the associated economic burden.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Length of stay (LOS) is used as an indicator to show the efficacy of hospitals. An increase in hospitalized days is not cost effective and decreases the efficacy of hospitals. Using insurance has some side effects. One of these side effects is increasing the LOS. In this study we attempt to discover the effects of complementary health insurance (CHI) on LOS in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 260 patients were surveyed. By using Poisson regression, the effects of using complementary health insurance on LOS were examined. The effects of confounders were also controlled in the model. RESULTS: The results of this study demonstrated that the relationship between use of CHI and LOS is direct. In addition, an increase in age and income also increases the LOS. The average LOS was 4.13 days, while it was 5.31 for CHI users, and 3.81 for CHI nonusers. CONCLUSION: Government budget is restricted and ACS treatments are costly. Decreasing LOS in ACS patients can help to spend the budget more effectively.