Activity-based costing evaluation of a [(18)F]-fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography study

The aim of the study is to use the activity-based costing approach to give a better insight in the actual cost structure of a positron emission tomography procedure (FDG-PET) by defining the constituting components and by simulating the impact of possible resource or practice changes.

The cost data were obtained from the hospital administration, personnel and vendor interviews as well as from structured questionnaires. A process map separates the process in 16 patient- and non-patient-related activities, to which the detailed cost data are related. One-way sensitivity analyses shows to which degree of uncertainty the different parameters affect the individual cost and evaluate the impact of possible resource or practice changes like the acquisition of a hybrid PET/CT device, the patient throughput or the sales price of a 370MBq (18)F-FDG patient dose.

The PET centre spends 73% of time in clinical activities and the resting time after injection of the tracer (42%) is the single largest departmental cost element. The tracer cost and the operational time have the most influence on cost per procedure. The analysis shows a total cost per FDG-PET ranging from 859 Euro for a BGO PET camera to 1142 Euro for a 16 slices PET-CT system, with a distribution of the resource costs in decreasing order: materials (44%), equipment (24%), wage (16%), space (6%) and hospital overhead (10%).

The cost of FDG-PET is mainly influenced by the cost of the radiopharmaceutical. Therefore, the latter rather than the operational time should be reduced in order to improve its cost-effectiveness.