O Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing in Healthcare – Application in Computed Tomography Studies

Résumé

The healthcare service sector is characterized by constantly changing environments and high costs, requiring continuous, efficient supervision and control. It can thus greatly benefit from the implementation of cost models, which allow more accurate cost management.
This study focuses on the application of time-driven activity-based costing to calculate the costs of computed tomography exams in a Portuguese public hospital.
The study covers three subcases: one anatomical section without contrast administration, one section with contrast administration and three sections with contrast administration. In addition to the typical application of the method, two adjustments were introduced: one with the change of the practical vs theoretical capacity ratio (65% instead of 85%) and another with the inclusion of standby resources.
The application of this method, in addition to allowing cost assessment and allocation, also enabled areas without added value and potential improvements to be identified, namely the cost-effectiveness human resources through scheduling exams with and without contrast in independent shifts.
The present work fills a gap identified in the application of costing methods in healthcare services, whose existence is still incipient and contributes to raising awareness of the importance of cost control in healthcare services.