Hospital Costing Methods: Four Decades of Literature Review

Isabel C. P. Marques and Maria-Ceu Alves ()
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Isabel C. P. Marques: Centre for Public Administration and Public Policies, Institute of Social and Political Sciences, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-663 Lisbon, Portugal
Maria-Ceu Alves: NECE-UBI Research Unit in Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal

JRFM, 2023, vol. 16, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: This study aims to identify and classify the costing methods used in hospitals in recent decades and to analyze the research carried out in this area, to identify and characterize the main lines of research and the research paradigms used. To this end, a systematic literature review was carried out, mapping 1067 articles collected from the ISI Web of Science and Scopus databases. The articles were selected by two independent researchers. To ensure the quality of the SLR, AMSTAR 2 was used as well as matrices for quantitative studies, and for qualitative articles. Additionally, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) systematic review process was followed to systematize the article selection process. Of the 1067 articles screened, 172 articles met the inclusion criteria. The results point to a growing interest among researchers and a predominance of the positive paradigm, albeit with an increase in interpretative research. There is a growing production of descriptive analyses of hospital processes and the costing of pathologies, with a predominance of the ABC method and analyses of costs and reimbursements for diagnosis-related groups. As a contribution, a conceptual model is proposed that aims to help the performance of hospital institutions, as well as a proposal for a future agenda based on this model.

Keywords: cost accounting; management accounting; costing systems; hospital costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C E F2 F3 G (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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