[Histonet] microcosting

[Rene J Buesa]

Hi Roxane:
  There are different ways of calculating to costs. One is an "unitary" approach where you try to calculate the cost of a single run, operation or procedure. This is too much time consuming and prone to great fluctuations because almost every run if different to the others and probably will not require renew all the used reagents.
  The other is a "bulk" approach where you keep track of all expendables used during a period of time, either a week, a month or a year. I prefer this type of approach and regularly used the month averages.For example: if you keep track of all the reagents in your H&E stainer during 1 week, and know how many slides you stained, the total cost of the automatic stainer reagents divided by the total number of slides stained = cost per slide.You do the same for the cost of the slides, and that of the automatic coverslipper and you will find out the cost of preparing 1 H&E slide. If you at the same time keep track of the cost of the reagents for the tissue processors and divided by the number of cassettes processed = cost of 1 cassette. And you keep doing this along the workflow = cost of 1 slide from reception of the specimen to the slide ready for the pathologist.
  To do it keep track of all the specimens processed, slides produced, everything you want to calculate the cost of and all the amounts and costs of all expendables required to complete those tasks. The total costs or amounts of expendables divided by the total number of completed items will give you the unitary cost, and it will be an average figure, where the variations that existed are going to be "even" out.
  If you combine these costs to the productivity figures of your lab (how much units of work per unit of time per HT) you will have the LABOR cost.
  At the end material costs + labor costs = total cost per unit.
  During the las NSH Meeting (2006) there was a workshop about costs that provided many forms to fill and had very useful information. Try to get a copy of that workshop.
  I am also attaching under separate cover a paper of mine that will appear in the Jan.5/07 issue of Advance for MLP".
  Hope this will help you!
  René J.

godsgalnow <@t> aol.com wrote:
  Anyone out there willing to share your spreadsheet for microcosting routine tissue processing? I would greatly appreciate it. I have been hitting my head against the wall on this for weeks; everytime I do it, it comes out different. I need a guideline.

Thank you so much

Roxanne Soto HT(ASCP)QIHC



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