Abstract:

Hospitals in Poland are entities providing healthcare services. They function as independent public healthcare institutions. They represent autonomous and self-financing entities. They receive funds for their activities from the payer i.e. the National Health Fund. These are public resources that must be managed economically and effectively. Therefore, it is essential that hospital costs are controlled and optimised. The costs should be of interest to hospital managers and the founding and financing entities. Since 1998, legal provisions have been published in Poland concerning recommendations on the design of cost accounting for medical entities, including hospitals. The third version of such recommendations is now being developed. This paper presents the implementation by Polish hospitals of the law on company cost accounts in the years 1998-2019. The aim of the paper is to indicate important factors affecting the acquisition of information on costs in hospitals. A research hypothesis was proposed: "the hospital's cost account and information about the costs of its activities are determined by the specificity of the healthcare system and depend on the information expectations of the managers and financing entities". The research tools used in the study included the analysis of literature, legal acts and surveys in selected hospitals.