Factors affecting profit/loss at national university hospitals

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the financial situation of national university hospitals after the national universities became incorporated, and to reveal factors affecting profit/loss at national university hospitals. Financial/performance indicators of 42 institutions belonging to national university hospitals were isolated from the hospital segment information presented in the financial statements of the national university corporation and “Research on assessment of the effect of introduction of the Diagnostic Procedure Combination (DPC) system” for the five business years between 2011 and 2015. Factors affecting the profit rate at university hospitals were evaluated using multiple regression analysis. During the above-mentioned period, the average business profit increased by 15.1% in the 42 institutions belonging to national university hospitals;the business expenses increased by 17.4%, and the business profit/loss decreased by 39.9%. As for the total cash flow, the capital increased by 261 million yen per year per institution. While the total number of inpatients and number of operations increased by 10.4% and 14.6%, respectively, the average length of hospital stay decreased by 8.4%. The factors that significantly affected the profit rate at university hospitals, and the profit rate from which the subsidies for operating expenses were deducted, were the bed occupancy rate, self-profit turnover rate, subsidies for the operating expenses rate, and the education expenditure rate.