Investments and costs of oral health care for Family Health Care

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the investments to implement and operational costs of a type I OralHealth Care Team in the Family Health Care Strategy.METHODS: This is an economic assessment study, for analyzing the investments and operationalcosts of an oral health care team in the city of Salvador, BA, Northeastern Brazil. The amountworth of investments for its implementation was obtained by summing up the investments incivil projects and shared facilities, in equipments, furniture, and instruments. Regarding theoperational costs, the 2009-2012 time series was analyzed and the month of December 2012 wasadopted for assessing the monetary values in effect. The costs were classified as direct variablecosts (consumables) and direct fixed costs (salaries, maintenance, equipment depreciation,instruments, furniture, and facilities), besides the indirect fixed costs (cleaning, security, energy,and water). The Ministry of Health’s share in funding was also calculated, and the factors thatinfluence cost behavior were described.RESULTS: The investment to implement a type I Oral Health Care Team was R$29,864.00(US$15,236.76). The operational costs of a type I Oral Health Care Team were around R$95,434.00(US$48,690.82) a year. The Ministry of Health’s financial incentives for investments accountedfor 41.8% of the implementation investments, whereas the municipality contributed with a59.2% share of the total. Regarding operational costs, the Ministry of Health contributed with33.1% of the total, whereas the municipality, with 66.9%. Concerning the operational costs, theelement of heaviest weight was salaries, which accounted for 84.7%.CONCLUSIONS: Problems with the regularity in the supply of inputs and maintenance ofequipment greatly influence the composition of costs, besides reducing the supply of services tothe target population, which results in the service probably being inefficient. States are suggestedto partake in funding, especially to cover the team’s operational cost