Investigation of the awareness of specialist physicians in Iran hospitals regarding treatment costs in 2022

Abstract Introduction In the current economic situation, where financing in healthcare services has become a major problem, awareness of costs and cost-effective decision-making has become more important than ever. Many factors are involved in healthcare spending, but physicians play the most important role. This study aimed to determine the level of awareness of specialist physicians working in Iran hospitals regarding treatment costs. Method This cross-sectional and analytical study was conducted in all public-educational hospitals in Mashhad. The data collection tool in this study was a researcher-made checklist, through which participants were asked to estimate the cost of 25 items of services and expenses. The questionnaire is a checklist of the most expensive items and services extracted by specialty. Data were analyzed using STATA version 14 software after collection. Results The awareness level of all groups of specialist participants in this study was evaluated as weak regarding treatment costs. In this study, the most accurate estimate of treatment costs was related to emergency medicine specialists (21.5%) and the weakest estimate was related to internal medicine and obstetrics and gynecology specialists (12.4%). All participating specialists in this study tended to estimate treatment costs higher than the actual cost. This study shows that the participating specialists had the highest accuracy in estimating the costs of imaging (22.9%) and the lowest accuracy in estimating the costs of consumables (11.6%). Also, more than 93% of respondents in this study stated that they have not passed any relevant courses on healthcare economics. Conclusion The low accuracy of physicians' estimates as the most important factor in managing healthcare costs is the main challenge identified in this section. Displaying item costs and monthly expenses in appropriate places, providing physicians with cost information, developing computer programs capable of displaying costs when physicians write orders, and including retraining programs on healthcare economics can improve physicians' awareness of treatment costs.