[The department budget, in the context of the hospital global budget. Initial results in general medicine].

In a general hospital (Hôtel-Dieu, in the center of Paris), run with a global budget, budgets determined for each unit were introduced as an experiment in 1980. Physicians were in charge of certain expenses, mainly: linen, drugs, transportation of patients to and from other hospitals within Paris, and blood fractions. The whole does not exceed 4% of the turnover (FF 20 millions in 1980) of a 67 bed internal medicine unit. Other accounts deal with the stays, admissions, prescriptions of technical acts, laboratory analyses, and X-rays. In 1980, expenses were 11% more than budgeted, but the increase in stays and particularly in admissions was significantly greater. The resulting savings were 8.8% and 18.7% for stays and admissions respectively. Psychic reactions were variable. The subsequent budgets followed the fluctuations of recorded expenses, which were fairly important in both directions. The unit budget may be an advance or a regression, in a restrictive and past-perpetuating context. The coherence between the unit budget and the global hospital budget is questionable. Physicians were willing to take part in accounting and saving. They have good reason for not enlarging their financial responsibilities. Conversely, they may give more attention to diseases of public opinion.