Costing total hip arthroplasty in a South African state tertiary hospital

Background. Most South Africans depend on the public sector for health services. There is an increasing demand for arthroplasty in the public sector, but a paucity of academic data regarding its cost. Objectives. To: (i) identify the factors that determine the cost of an uncomplicated primary hip arthroplasty; and (ii) make recommendations on cost optimisation. Methods. This was a cross-sectional study. Patients who met the inclusion criteria had their hospital financial records reviewed from October 2015 to March 2017. Six cost centres were utilised: inpatient admission, theatre and anaesthesia, ambulatory, prosthesis, physiotherapy and blood bank. The data were statistically analysed. Results. Fifty-five patients met the study inclusion criteria. Data were stratified into categories. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the data, and significant differences were found in the prosthesis, inpatient admission and ambulatory cost centres at a 95% significance level. The least significant difference was used to test the ANOVA results that paired significant categories. No cost centre showed significance over the other categories. Data for the six cost centres were compared with the current literature and industry best practice. Eight recommendations are made. Conclusions. The study showed that clinicians need to be aware of procedural costing in the current financial climate. There are still opportunities to optimise cost containment in the state sector.

Automated summary

This study aimed to identify factors affecting the cost of uncomplicated primary hip arthroplasty and make recommendations for cost optimization. Significant differences were found in the prosthesis, inpatient admission, and ambulatory cost centers, but no cost center showed significant superiority over the others.