Determination of radiology services cost in selected hospitals affiliated with Tehran university of medical sciences in 2010- 2011, using the activity based costing method

Regarding to the escalating costs of health care and limited resources in this field, the appropriate identification and control of costs is inevitable. This Study aimed to determine the unit cost of radiology services, in selected hospitals of TUMS.

This was a descriptive retrospective study. At first, we selected two hospitals (Shariati and Sina) out of general - teaching hospitals of TUMS randomly. After gathering data, using activity based costing method, the unit costs of radiography services in these centers in 1389 fiscal year (2010-2011) were calculated.

The unit costs of radiography services in Shariati and Sina hospitals were 251255,5 and 334996,2 respectively. Building rent and human resources costs included the most share of total costs.

The unit cost of radiography services in this study is very different comparing with other studies. Calculated building rent costs in this study could be one of the possible reasons of this difference (other studies did not consider this costs). The other point is that, regarding the high share of human resources and building costs from total costs, special attention to these sources of costs and appropriate and adequate use of them, can be an important step toward improving the efficiency and cost savings in our national health system.