Determining productivity and unit costs in a bacteriology laboratory

Area of Science:

• Medical laboratory science
• Health economics

Background:

• Clinical microbiology departments face challenges in cost-reimbursement alignment.
• Accurate costing is crucial for financial sustainability and strategic decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline a methodology for identifying and costing clinical microbiology services.
• To assess service profitability against the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) fee schedule.
• To provide data for evaluating the financial viability of outsourcing.

Main Methods:

• Identification of departmental "products" or services.
• Determination of resource requirements and total costs.
• Calculation of unit costs for each service.
• Comparison of calculated costs with OHIP fee reimbursements.

Main Results:

• Identification of profitable services under the OHIP fee scale.
• Pinpointing of services where costs exceed reimbursement.
• Assessment of overall departmental profitability.
• Data generated for evaluating potential gains from contracting out services.

Conclusions:

• The described process enables accurate financial assessment of clinical microbiology services.
• It supports informed decisions regarding service viability and outsourcing opportunities.
• This costing methodology is essential for optimizing departmental financial performance.