Health services pricing in Turkey

One of the most important and complex decisions that public services managers have to make is pricing. This is especially difficult within public health care because pricing decisions are influenced by a myriad of ideological, political, economic and professional arguments. In Turkey the majority of health care services are provided under public auspice; however, recent changes in governmental policy have led to increased competition among hospitals in both the public and private sector. Therefore, all institutions are being watched and remain open to government scrutiny and regulation. The aim of the study is to analyze how the private and governmental hospitals determine pricing or the actual cost of services in Turkey. Also, comparisons are made between health services expenditures and the Consumer Price Index with suggestions provided for public and private hospital managers in regard to the general cost of health services.