An emergency department (ED), also known as accident and emergency (A8E), emergency room (ER), or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing for acute care of patients who present without prior appointment, either by their own means or by ambulance. In spite of the emergency beds forming only a fraction of the hospital beds, they consume a relatively large proportion of the hospitals resources. There is a requirement to ascertain the cost incurred in providing emergency care treatment to the patients coming to an apex tertiary care center, whose principal mandate is to provide tertiary care treatment. The study will not only help in allocating funds to the ED in an apex tertiary care facility but will also be useful if the hospital authorities decide to outsource the emergency services to a third party.

To study the cost incurred in providing emergency care services in an apex tertiary care hospital. To identify the various cost centers pertaining to patient care in the emergency care department and to estimate the cost of rendering patient care in ED and the cost of running the emergency per day.

Six months’ retrospective data were collected from the ED, accounts section, engineering section, stores department, radiology department, emergency lab, computer facility, etc. The cost was apportioned to per patient as well per hour in rendering emergency care services.

The total cost incurred in providing emergency care services in the hospital under study was Rs 2034 per patient, while Rs 31,000 are spent per hour in running the emergency care facility.

Almost 40 to 50% of the total cost incurred on providing emergency care services goes to the salary head of the staff working in the ED. The next major sources of expenditure are the radiology and lab investigations.

The study suggests that a considerable amount of hospital funds are spent on providing emergency care services in the apex tertiary care facility, whose primary mandate is to provide tertiary care services. The possibility of complete outsourcing or partial outsourcing in the form of radiology investigations and hiring humanpower on a contract basis can be a viable solution, to reduce the cost on providing emergency care, which can better be utilized in providing high-end tertiary care facilities.

Garg N, Gupta SK, Lathwal A, Garg R. A Study of Cost incurred in providing Emergency Care Services in an Apex Tertiary Care Hospital. Int J Res Foundation Hosp Healthc Adm 2016;4(1):45-50.