Background: According to the protocol established by the interdisciplinary team, patients with cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP) need to undergo surgery in order to experience to good treatment outcomes. However, some medical expenses are incurred during this process.  

Objective: To examine the costs related to surgery as compared to the compensation received according to the Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG).

Materials& Methods: A descriptive study was conducted using the medical records of the patients with CLP, who had received treatment at the Tawanchai Center (KKU Cleft Center). The data was collected for 3 months and included general information, the details of the surgery, and the costs. Afterwards, the collected data was analyzed using percentages, means and standard deviations.

Results: It was found that there were 93 patients had undergone the surgery, and 56 of them had been males (60.22%). The number of patients (percent) receiving Cheiloplasty, Palatoplasty, cleft lip and nose correction, and closure fistula had been 93 patients (100%), 90 patients (100%), 24 patients (25.81%), and 15 patients (16.13%), respectively. Each of the treatments had average costs at 12,515 baht, 16,229 baht, 14,895 baht and 20,315 baht, respectively. Fifty four patients, which was considered as the highest number, had undergone the surgery twice (58.06 %) and1 patient had undergone the surgery 6 times, which indicated the highest frequency (1.08 %). The costs of the surgery were compared with the allocated financial support (84.56%) according to DRG. The payment rate was 9,000 baht per 1 relative weight (AdjRW).    

Conclusions: The average costs of a closure fistula procedure were higher than the average costs of Cheiloplasty and Palatoplasty. 84.56 percent of the patients had been allocated with financial support according to DRG. The proper payment rate was 10,643 baht per 1 AdjRW.