Hogan A J, Marshall R M
College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
Healthc Financ Manage. 1990 Feb;44(2):42, 46, 48 passim.
Better accounting for support service costs at outpatient facilities involves distinguishing between fixed and variable expenses, then creating separate budgets for them. To simplify this step, financial managers can create a surrogate, such as the number of patient visits, to represent service activity. Once this is completed, separated costs are allocated by using criteria that recognize short-term and long-term service use.