5 ms·

Very few hospitals do cost-accounting, so they don't even know how much things cost; this results in the inconsistencies you see in prices. From Wikipedia: >"

by nickff 5y ago

Very few hospitals do cost-accounting, so they don't even know how much things cost; this results in the inconsistencies you see in prices. From Wikipedia: >"In 2003, of the roughly 3,900 nonfederal, short-term, acute care general hospitals in the United States, the majority—about 62 percent—were nonprofit. The rest included government hospitals (20 percent) and for-profit hospitals (18 percent)" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_hospital https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_hospital

kazinator 5y ago
If you don't know how much things cost, how can you say you're doing accounting? If you're doing accounting you have a ledger which balances down to the penny, and the expenses are spelled out in there with concrete amounts. This is why that judge, as noted in the article, rejected the argument that the cost of an X-ray can be unknowable.
- nickff 5y ago
  Cost accounting consists of more than just balancing a chequebook to the penny; you need to attribute expenses to specific procedures, which can get a bit tricky. It requires discipline and cooperation throughout the organization, which would likely be a huge change for hospitals (as I'm certain doctors would be loathe to log their time like lawyers do).
  - kazinator 5y ago
    OK, so if my company knows how much it's spending on toilet paper for the washroom, but doesn't know exactly which departments are wiping how much ass, then we are not doing cost accounting though we are tracking the bulk expense properly in the ledger. We are not able to answer the question of how much toilet paper is required to operate our marketing department, for instance.
    - nickff 5y ago
      Widely used supplies like that are usually just put into a general overhead account, sometimes specific to a department. Healthcare companies would need to attribute things like depreciation of equipment (MRIs & CAT scanners for example), as well as doctor and nurse time (outside of operating rooms). These things are generally not tracked accurately, and many professionals are indignant at the idea that they could be.

by nickff 5y ago

kazinator 5y ago

If you don't know how much things cost, how can you say you're doing accounting? If you're doing accounting you have a ledger which balances down to the penny, and the expenses are spelled out in there with concrete amounts. This is why that judge, as noted in the article, rejected the argument that the cost of an X-ray can be unknowable.

nickff 5y ago
Cost accounting consists of more than just balancing a chequebook to the penny; you need to attribute expenses to specific procedures, which can get a bit tricky. It requires discipline and cooperation throughout the organization, which would likely be a huge change for hospitals (as I'm certain doctors would be loathe to log their time like lawyers do).
- kazinator 5y ago
  OK, so if my company knows how much it's spending on toilet paper for the washroom, but doesn't know exactly which departments are wiping how much ass, then we are not doing cost accounting though we are tracking the bulk expense properly in the ledger. We are not able to answer the question of how much toilet paper is required to operate our marketing department, for instance.
  - nickff 5y ago
    Widely used supplies like that are usually just put into a general overhead account, sometimes specific to a department. Healthcare companies would need to attribute things like depreciation of equipment (MRIs & CAT scanners for example), as well as doctor and nurse time (outside of operating rooms). These things are generally not tracked accurately, and many professionals are indignant at the idea that they could be.