Using technology to reveal true costs.

Healthcare leaders should address three important questions as they prepare to implement new costing systems: Do all providers in their organizations' systems, networks, or partnerships share the same definitions of unit of care and of fixed, variable, incremental, direct, and indirect costs? What are the maintenance processes and protocols for cost center and period matching of revenues and costs? If some providers within a network or partnership are not using costing systems, can an enterprise derive surrogate cost per unit of care?