. 2019 Apr;76(2):240-252. Show
doi: 10.1177/1077558717719928. Epub 2017 Jul 24. Affiliations
Hospital Supply Expenses: An Important Ingredient in Health Services ResearchYousef Abdulsalam et al. Med Care Res Rev. 2019 Apr. AbstractThe purpose of this article is to shed light on hospital supply expenses, which form the second largest expense category after payroll and hold more promise for improving cost-efficiency compared to payroll. However, limited research has rigorously scrutinized this cost category, and it is rarely given specific consideration across cost-focused studies in health services publications. After reviewing previously cited estimates, we examine and independently validate supply expense data (collected by the American Hospital Association) for over 3,500 U.S. hospitals. We find supply expenses to make up 15% of total hospital expenses, on average, but as high as 30% or 40% in hospitals with a high case-mix index, such as surgery-intensive hospitals. Future research can use supply expense data to better understand hospital strategies that aim to manage costs, such as systemization, physician-hospital arrangements, and value-based purchasing. Keywords: hospital costs; supply chain management; supply expense. Similar articles
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What is the biggest expense in healthcare?In 2019, hospital care spending (37.2%) made up the largest share of personal health care expenditures, followed by spending on physician and clinical services (24.1%), prescription drugs (11.5%), nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities (5.4%), dental services (4.5%), and home health care ( ...
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What are the two largest expenditures in a hospital budget?In 2019, 96 percent of health and hospital expenditures were for operational costs, such as public health administration, community health programs, public hospital operations, and regulatory services. The remaining 4 percent went to capital outlays such as hospital construction.
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