Model of evaluation cost/value of blood in a hospital, a contribution

The Accounting System for Activities in the Hospitals, sistema de custeio por actividades nos hospitais (SCAH), is outlined to evaluate detailed cost elements, understanding cost behaviour, which can facilitate future policy decisions, because policy makers have the op­portunity to more fully understand the implications of incremental changes. How blood cost should be measured is an open question. The blood and its components are becoming increas­ingly costly and scarce. We decided to apply the SCAH to the Blood Bank of IPOFG Lisbon, in order to evaluate a far more appropriate actual cost of the blood in our Institution. We used an activity-based approach to more fully account for the cost of blood, then present estimates, derived from the concept of activity-based costing (ABC). We applied this method to the process flow charts of activities associated with blood collection facility and the others associated to the transfusion service. The cost of a packed red blood cells unit was calculated as 356.44 €. There are a lot of ways to obtain blood components. Even the same component could have different prices according to the way it has been collected, which is yet an additional contribution to these prices. Estimating blood costs is a complex undertaking. The cost of blood is continuing to drive up­wards and has up to now been underestimated.