Hospital direct costs were included in the analysis. The following costs, based on actual data, were given: all costs in the internal medicine department (defined as drug related costs, diagnostic and treatment costs), all costs in other departments (defined in the same way as costs in the internal medicine department), cost of drug administration (defined as prescribing fees, formulating fees, pharmacy fees and drug information costs), drug costs in internal medicine department, and drug costs in other departments.
Discounting was not carried out as costs were incurred over a short period of time. Costs were not broken down into quantities and costs. The source of cost data on diagnostic costs, treatment costs and the drugs costs was the health insurance system. The source of the information on drug administration was the hospital. The price year was 2000.