Development of revenue collection system for community hospitals in Surat Thani Province

Abstract

Background: The separation of the roles of purchasing services from the provision of services by the Ministry of Public Health, by allocating budgets to service units according to registered population, has resulted in hospitals having insufficient budgets for administration. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more efficient revenue collection.

Objective: To study the problems, development guidelines, and evaluate the development guidelines of the revenue collection system for community hospitals.

Methodology: This study is a research and development endeavor that involves examining historical data using geographical data from various documents related to revenue collection systems in community hospitals from fiscal year 2018 to 2022. It follows a systematic development approach, including the stages of system planning, requirements analysis, system development, and implementation. Data is analyzed through content analysis, and the progress is assessed using risk scoring.

Study results: The development of the revenue collection system should be comprehensive in all aspects: 1) Human resources: There should be enough personnel in terms of both number and capacity to perform the tasks. 2) Budget: There should be budget support to increase personnel and procure adequate equipment and tools. 3) Equipment and tools: There should be adequate and appropriate equipment and tools for the tasks, especially software to support revenue collection. 4) Management: The administrative structure should be appropriate for the nature of related tasks, and there should be a plan for operations to be in the same direction. There should also be a committee to control, supervise, monitor, and evaluate the revenue collection process on an ongoing basis.

Conclusion: The development of the revenue collection system can improve the efficiency of revenue collection, resulting in improved financial condition of the hospital. Therefore, it is important to continuously support the development of the revenue collection system in all four areas for sustainability.