Publications
Publications
- March 2012 (Revised January 2013)
- HBS Case Collection
Boston Children's Hospital: Measuring Patient Costs
By: Robert S. Kaplan, Mary L. Witkowski and Jessica A. Hohman
Abstract
The case describes two pilot projects on applying activity-based costing to measuring the cost of treating patients. It presents process maps and financial data relating to the processes used during (1) an office visit to a plastic surgeon for three different diagnoses and (2) application and removal of three different casts in the orthopedic cast room. Students calculate and compare the costs and margins of the three procedures at the two different sites using the hospital's existing cost system and a proposed new system based on time-driven activity-based costing.
Keywords
Health Care; Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Costing; Hospitals; Activity Based Costing and Management; Mathematical Methods; Health Industry
Citation
Kaplan, Robert S., Mary L. Witkowski, and Jessica A. Hohman. "Boston Children's Hospital: Measuring Patient Costs." Harvard Business School Case 112-086, March 2012. (Revised January 2013.)