A Cost Finding Analysis of Uncomplicated Obstetrics Services at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune NHCL, like other health care facilities throughout the world, must find ways to reduce the costs of providing health care, improve the quality of care, and increase access to its beneficiaries. If cost, quality and access are not unproved the facility will ultimately be replaced by a more efficient and effective means of providing health care to its beneficiaries. Historically, the local community hospital, Onslow Memorial Hospital OMH, offered substantial discounts to patients eligible for the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services CHAMPUS. These discounts have since diminished and costs have subsequently increased. To combat the ever increasing costs associated with health care, NHCL has begun to analyze costs and find ways to increase efficiency and effectiveness. In 1996, NHCLs Obstetrics costs accounted for nearly 25 of their total CHAMPUS bill. This prompted a cost study to determine NHCLs cost of providing OB care as compared to the costs of providing equivalent care to beneficiaries through the CHAMPUS system. This study revealed that OB costs at NHCL were considerably less than those incurred via CHAMPUS. Therefore, further investigation into increasing OB volume at NHCL is warranted.