Measuring the net profit of laboratory services: A case study in Iran

Background: Clinical laboratories need to manage resources properly and scientifically to survive in today's highly competitive environment. In this context, scientific-economic principles should be considered to determine the profitability or loss of laboratories. Thus, in this study, the net profit of laboratory services was measured based on scientific-economic principles. Methods: This was an applied research with descriptive-retrospective approach. A laboratory was selected from 61 laboratories of Kerman, Iran, which performed the highest number of tests among the laboratories of this city. In addition, due to easy access, it was the most visited laboratory by patients. The present study had 2 main phases: (1) measuring the price of services and (2) calculating the net profit of the studied laboratory. Data analysis was performed using activity- based costing (ABC) as an econometric model and Excel software. Results: The highest charges were related to direct costs (78.28%); consumable goods (47.26%) and professional and logistic human resources (46.31%) had the highest share of these costs. In the test groups, the most expensive tests belonged to the hormones (23.03%) and clinical chemistry (20.84%). Total cost, revenue, and the net profit of the studied laboratory were 641 645, 1 390 942, and 749 297 USD, respectively. After doing sensitivity analysis (50% increase in the frequency of tests), the following values were obtained: 987 071, 2 086 413, and 1 099 342, respectively. Conclusion: Some test groups in the studied laboratory were not profitable, and this was due to the high cost of these tests and illogical tariffs. One way to overcome this problem is to increase the frequency of laboratory tests.