Evaluating Cost Sharing Measures in Public Primary Units in Greece: Cost Sharing Measures in Primary Care

Olga Siskou, Helen Stokou, Mamas Theodorou, Daphne Kaitelidou, Peter Galanis, Konstantinos Tsavalias, Olympia Konstantakopoulou, Georgios Charalambous and Lycourgos L. Liaropoulos
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Olga Siskou: Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Helen Stokou: Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Mamas Theodorou: Postgraduate Programme on Health Policy and Planning, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
Daphne Kaitelidou: Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Peter Galanis: Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Konstantinos Tsavalias: Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Olympia Konstantakopoulou: Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Georgios Charalambous: Emergency Department, Hippokrateio Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
Lycourgos L. Liaropoulos: Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

International Journal of Reliable and Quality E-Healthcare (IJRQEH), 2015, vol. 4, issue 4, 52-62

Abstract: The mission of this paper is to investigate the economic viability and the workload imposed on nurses of the introduction of a cost sharing mechanism (€5/visit) in public primary health care units. The Ministry of Health provided administrative data for 2011 and 2012. Results highlighted the economic viability of the introduction of a cost sharing mechanism in Outpatient Departments of NHS Hospitals, as an annual economic benefit of €11.5 mil was reported. On the other hand, an annual deficit of €1.4 mil was estimated for Health Centers. Moreover, in the majority of Health Centers, nurses were put under altering employment in order to collect the fees. In times of economic recession, such as currently the case in Greece, negative consequences of cost sharing mechanisms may outweigh the positive ones. The decision on whether or not to introduce cost sharing arrangements is largely a political one and many factors (e.g. accessibility, equity, clinical outcomes) have to be taken into account, apart from economic results.

Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:igg:jrqeh0:v:4:y:2015:i:4:p:52-62

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International Journal of Reliable and Quality E-Healthcare (IJRQEH) is currently edited by Anastasius Moumtzoglou

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