The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) dispatched up to 10 medicines and performed up to 24 tests per inpatient during 2016.
With these data, the CCSS said that it increased the number of dispensed drugs, the number of laboratory tests and radiological examinations, compared to 2015.
In 2016, 82.2 million drugs were delivered, 3.3% more than in 2015.
69.6% of the drugs were prescribed in outpatient services.
14.4% in Emergencies.
4.5% in hospitalization.
11.5% in other areas of attention.
Moreover, about 54.3 million laboratory tests were performed in different health facilities, which meant an increase of 1.7% compared to 2015.
48% of the tests were requested from external consultation.
17% were ordered in emergency services.
16% from inpatient services.
The national hospitals and specialized centers conducted 37.6 examinations per every inpatient before discharging them, while others hospitals in other regions of the country conducted between 7 and 20 tests,”
reported the institution.
Outpatient consultation resulted in approximately 2.5 laboratory tests per person and 1.6 Emergency laboratory tests were processed for each attention.
Regarding radiology studies, there was an increase of just 0.1% compared to 2015; while in the case of scans, there was an increase of 3.7%.
In addition, last year there were 354,575 hospital discharges, representing an increase of 6,336 compared to 2015. In terms of average stay, a slight increase from 6.58 days to 6.60 days was recorded in 2016.