Unit cost of CT scan and MRI at a large tertiary care teaching hospital in North India

Imaging department is an important department of a hospital contributing directly to patient care, providing diagnostic support to all specialties which cannot practice efficiently without their support. Hospital administrators are looking for newer tools to control costs without affecting the quality of patient care. It is well known that the escalation of costs for advanced technology has been dramatic and it has been labeled as one of the culprits for great increase in healthcare costs. A prospective study for a period of six months was carried out for calculation of unit cost of radiological investigations CT head, CT chest, CT abdomen and MRI. Unit costs were computed under direct and indirect costs. The actual cost incurred by the hospital on CT head was Rupees 581.40 (US $10.89), CT abdomen Rupees 2339.20 (US $43.83), CT chest Rupees 2339.20 (US $43.83), and MRI Rupees 4497.50 (US $84.28). However, in the hospital patients are charged Rupees 900 (US $16.86) for CT head, Rupees 1200 (US $22.48) for CT abdomen, Rupees 1200 (US $22.48) for CT chest and Rupees 2500 (US $46.85) for MRI. There is a substantial loss of revenue because of subsidies provided to patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital which needs revision of charges.