The Cure of a big Patient – An Accountant's Perspective

The Greek public healthcare system suffers from many severe illnesses. The applied treatments seem to have no results. The legis lation established (in 2003), for the introduction of a costing system in order to rationalize the operation of the Public Healthcare sector is still an unachieved dream for the majority of the Greek public hospitals and a nightmare for the Greek Governments. In the P.D.146/2003, penalties imposed on the hospitals which failed to apply the introduced costing system, proved to be ineffective and the cost of the provided healthcare services remains unknown. The lack of costing data has a great impact on the efficient management of hospitals, such as inaccurate pricing, and the elimination of any possibility of control This article exams the problem and suggests an integrated solution from an accountant's perspective.