Assignment Module 5 Cost/Benefit Analysis 10 points possible

Consider the case on page 270 of the Harmening textbook regarding the hospital administrator’s
request for lab services to support parathyroid surgeries which would require offering intact PTH testing
on two days/ week. Costs of the analyzer, reagent test kits, number of controls required and
reimbursement revenues are described. In addition, consider that 4 tests are run monthly for the
calibrators. You are will be asked to consider if the test can be offered in-house by performing some
calculations and explaining factors involved in the decision making by answering the following questions.

1. How did the actual cost per test be determined for reagent alone? Show the calculation:

2. How many tests in the kit are going for non-billable tests (these are tests you run that are not
patient samples)? 

3. Considering the total reagent cost over 8 weeks, and the number of patient reportable tests,
the number of non-patient reportable tests, what is the likely cost of wasted reagent?

4. What are other expenses that should be considered in calculating cost per test? Include specific
examples.

3 pts if complete with examples; 2 points if both categories and few examples; 1 point if one
category or no examples; 0 point if nothing correct.

5. Considering the reimbursement revenue discuss your initial thoughts on cost/benefit for
offering the intact PTH test STAT for in-house surgery.
2 points if logical defended point; 1 point if partially clear point made

6. What additional ideas could be explored and provided to the hospital administrator that may
make this more favorable?
2 points if logical defended point; 1 point if partially clear or not fully defendable.