Obtaining and understanding the costs of clinical laboratory testing--as with many health services--presents a perplexing but critical task. In most laboratories the only ’cost data’ available are those accumulated for routine expense accounting, but these data are usually inadequate for analysing laboratory costs. For costing purposes, common major deficiencies in accounting data are: (1) supp...

The condition of the used products acquired by remanufacturing firms often varies widely. A firm can manage this variation by acquiring a quantity of used items that exceeds demand, enabling it to remanufacture a subset of the acquired items in the best condition. As more excess items are acquired, the firm can increase its selectivity and lower its remanufacturing costs. In this paper, we exam...

BACKGROUND More than 70% of children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are born in sub-Saharan Africa where the prevalence at birth of this disease reaches 2% or higher in some selected areas. There is a dearth of knowledge on comprehensive care received by children with SCD in sub-Saharan Africa and its associated cost. Such knowledge is important for setting prevention and treatment priorities a...

The cost of medical supplies represents a significant portion hospital spending. Hospitals manage different types supplies, such as general and physician preference items. General tend to be numerous relatively low cost, while items less more expensive. Strong for certain can limit the options available reduce inventory costs. use consignment is one way in which hospitals seek costs both well H...

Financial resources tend to be limited in schistosomiasis endemic areas, forcing program managers to balance financial and scientific considerations when selecting detection assays. Therefore, we compared the costs of using single stool Kato-Katz, triplicate stool Kato-Katz, and point-of-contact circulating cathodic antigen (POC-CCA) assays for the detection of Schistosoma mansoni infection. Ec...

BACKGROUND Many hysterectomies are now performed by a laparoscopically assisted vaginal technique. This procedure is controversial, partly because of concern about cost. We studied hospital charges and costs for the procedure as compared with those for total abdominal hysterectomy and total vaginal hysterectomy in clinically similar groups of patients. METHODS From hospital-discharge data and...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate the economic and humanistic implications of using ostomy components to prevent subsequent peristomal skin complications (PSCs) in individuals who experience an initial, leakage-related PSC event. DESIGN Cost-utility analysis. METHODS We developed a simple decision model to consider, from a payer's perspective, PSCs managed with and without the u...

Executive Summary Daisytek International, Inc., is the largest wholesale distributor of non-paper consumable computer supplies and accessories in North America. This article focuses on the evolution of Daisytek’s distribution operations from a decentralized, ground-based system to a centralized, air-based system that features a strategic alliance with FedEx. Daisytek’s distribution strategy has...

New alternatives for the multiperiod design and operation planning of multiproduct batch plants are presented. Unlike previous works, this approach configurates the plant in every period considering the assignment of parallel units of different sizes operating either in or out-of-phase. The objective function maximizes the net profit considering incomes, investment costs, and both product and r...