Related Experiment Videos
Costing pathology services: a practical approach to a difficult problem
1Queensland Health Pathology Service, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Wooloongabba, Australia.
Insights
Accurately costing healthcare services, like pathology, is challenging. This study presents a flexible costing model that uses basic financial data to improve cost awareness and efficiency.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Clinical Pathology
- Health Economics
Background:
- Healthcare funding reforms necessitate detailed cost analysis of patient care episodes.
- Pathology departments face complex costing challenges due to diverse investigations and variable costs.
- Existing costing methods are often resource-intensive and require unavailable financial detail.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a flexible and accessible model for costing pathology services.
- To address the need for accurate cost identification in patient care episodes.
- To improve staff awareness of the costs associated with laboratory investigations.
Main Methods:
- The study proposes a costing model adaptable to varying levels of financial data availability.
- The model accepts crude financial data and can be refined as more detailed information becomes accessible.
- Application of the model to pathology cost analysis.
Main Results:
- The developed model provides useful cost information for pathology services.
- Implementation of the model increased staff awareness regarding the cost of their work.
- The model demonstrated practical utility in managing laboratory expenses.
Conclusions:
- The proposed costing model offers a practical solution for complex healthcare cost analysis.
- The principles of the model are transferable to other departments with diverse "products."
- This approach enhances financial transparency and efficiency in healthcare settings.
Abstract:
Recent developments in funding healthcare have created a need to know the cost of each input into a patient episode of care. In most cases pathology departments will be faced with a complex costing problem in their efforts to meet this need, owing to the diversity of investigations performed and the variation in cost between the least and the most expensive investigations. Most methods for costing pathology services are resource intensive, from the point of view both of the initial set up and of maintenance of the data. They often require a level of financial detail that may not be available. The model described in this paper will accept crude financial data and can be refined as better data become available. In our hands the model has yielded useful information and has raised the awareness of staff to the cost of the work they perform. Although the model has been applied to an analysis of pathology costs, the principles are transferable to other areas which have a wide range of "products" for which individual costs may be difficult to identify.