Financial Impacts of Covid-19 Pandemic for Turkish Public Hospitals

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess financial implications of Covid-19 pandemic on Turkish public hospitals and to discuss Turkish government's responses. A comparative analysis is carried out with the medical and financial data of Turkish public hospitals between March-December 2019 and March-December 2020. Outpatient services decreased by approximately 49%, inpatient admissions dropped by %35. Due to this decrease in the number of patients, outpatient revenues decreased by 37.8%, while inpatient revenues increased by 6.3% thanks to reimbursement supports by the Social Security Institution (SSI). On the other hand, total hospital expenses increased by 24% with the impact of Covid-19-related expenses. This increase is largely caused by performance-based supplementary payments, drugs, and operating expenses. Prospective global budget model helps healthcare financing stability for Turkish public hospitals. Public hospitals receive their global budgets to compensate for revenue shortfalls. The SSI also try to compensate the financial losses of public and private hospitals with additional reimbursement supports. However, policymakers and managers should prepare for the change of paradigm in the healthcare system and should concentrate to cost-effective policies (such as tele-health services) in hospitals as a result of Covid-19 demands.