The impact of changing eligibility policy in a teaching Saudi Government Hospital

Abstract

Objective: In 2004, Saudi Ministry of Health redefined the criteria for receiving treatment at government hospitals (eligible patients). The eligibility is restricted to all Saudi nationals and to non-Saudi nationals who are working in the government sector. This study investigates the impact of this decision on admission rate in one teaching hospital in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom. In addition, it explores the pattern of patients seen at emergency room during the same period.Design: A retrospective study of the pattern of Saudis and non-Saudis cases that presented and admitted to King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU) during the period from 2000 to 2012.Methods: The setting of this study was the KFHU, Al-Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study covers all recorded patients who visited the hospital over a 13-year period (2000–2012). This work uses the data collected by the Hospital Information System about all treated in-patients: Saudis, non-Saudis, eligible, and non-eligible. According to KFHU policies and procedures, the admission office and emergency room reception routinely classifies patients' eligibility. The data set was processed, analyzed, and categorized accordingly to explore the impact of the new regulations on admission rate (in-patients, out-patients and emergency cases) for both Saudi patients (SPs) and non-Saudi patients (NSPs). The NSP further classified into eligible (ENSP), or non-eligible (NNSP).Results: Regarding the patients visiting the emergency room ER, and after issuing the new regulation, the number of NSNEP dropped dramatically. The change resulted at the end of 2012 compared to 2004 values is about 65%. Regarding the inpatients IP, the decrease in the number of NSNEP is clear and reached more than 80% in 2012 compared to 2004.