Internal and External Costs in Sustainable Development of the Healthcare System in Poland. Case Study of the John Paul II Specialist Hospital in Głuchołazy

Abstract

The article’s goal is to study internal and external cost as part of the sustainable development paradigm. To illustrate such a problem the role and a scope of presented costs in the health care system are discussed. The practical example from Opolskie Voivodship — the John Paul II Specialist Hospital in Głuchołazy — is presented. For achievement of this aim a literature review is conducted from the scope of health-care economics and its sustainable development as well as internal and external costs (desk research). An analysis of data (data analysis) is performed on the example of the specific hospital (case study). After such analysis it is possible to state that it is necessary to have knowledge regarding the occurrence of diseases in the population and the total (including external) values of social and economic costs of untreated diseases. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to, first of all, implement educational programs. This also applies to general medical practitioners, because, as practice shows, patients are often diagnosed at the stages of disease when effective treatment is nearly impossible.