Cost categories, behavior patterns, and break-even analysis

Nurse executives budget and control costs, use those budgets and other management tools to control departmental costs, identify existing programs to drop or change, target new programs and services, and determine fees for nursing services. Knowledge of costs and their behavior patterns assist nurse executives in all of these activities. The author identifies the two cost categories (direct and indirect), explains the basic cost behavior patterns (fixed and variable), and helps nurse executives identify these cost categories and behavior patterns in their own departments.