Hospital and unit cost allocation methods.

Abstract

The quest for an efficient healthcare system has resulted in the publication of many assessments relating to health facilities. Some use a methodological approach that, at first glance, appears questionable in terms of allocation of overhead or support costs among the facilities' centres of activity. The objective of this article is to verify, using hospital utilization data, whether the choice of an allocation method significantly affects the unit cost of such resources. The results obtained from our sample suggest that no statistically significant relationship exists between the methods used and the unit costs produced.