Effects of a fix-payment method per outpatient on the procedures, in university hospitals, Turkey

The effects of payment methods on clinical practice are not well understood, in Turkey. In the middle of 2006, a fix-payment method for hospitals was implemented, and 5 months later was cancelled. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of the payment method on the clinical practice in the University hospitals. The data in this study was retrospectively obtained from six university hospital records. Main outcome measure is procedure number per outpatient. The overall mean procedure number per outpatient was found as 12.2. A significant decrease was observed in the mean procedure number during the period of fix-payment method (p<0.05). While the mean number remained at the level of 13.4+/-6.3 during the other months of the year (p<0.05), it came down to the level of 10.3+/-4.8 during the period of fix-payment method. A decrease of 23% in procedures was calculated during the new method. It was concluded that payment model for hospitals was an effective factor on clinical practice.