APPLICATION OF ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING IN THE IVF DEPARTMENT

Abstract

Activity-based costing (ABC) is a method where the costing of the product or service produced is performed on the basis of the activities. This method provides advantages to healthcare managers such as more realistic cost information, elimination of indirect, unnecessary and time-consuming activities and performance measurement. The aim of this study is to examine the applicability of ABC method in health institutions and to compare the calculated costs with the HIN price list. With this aim, the costs of the procedure of IVF center in a university hospital were calculated with the ABC method. Cost calculations for the procedures of Oocyte Pick-Up (OPU), Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE), Embryo Transfer (ET) and Microinjection as discussed in the study were made with the ABC method and compared against the Healthcare Implementation Notification (HIN) system price lists. The calculated costs were determined according to the effective exchange rate of the dollar. It was revealed that the calculated costs differed from the price list. Finally, the findings suggest that ABC method could provide significant benefit for healthcare managers not only for to understand actual care costs but also to improving the cost control efforts as well as to planning the profitability analysis for hospitals. ABC method would provide a better opportunity and competitive for hospital managers to make a more accurate comparison between their and other health institutions