Introduction
From 1850s, medical tariff began in California by
using coding method. First results of this information
were published in 1956. In this method, a
three- number code with a special listing was used
for the classification of medical services (1, 2). Regarding
weaknesses in tariff method in the late
1980s, most hospitals made their tariff’s calculating
method based on” Diagnosis Related Groups
(DRG)". In this method, instead of fixed tariffs,
cost price of hospital services was calculated based
on the opinion of expert (3).
In the recent decade, by increasing varieties of
complex activities and the importance of cost
price in hospitals for managers and governments,
understanding these changes and evaluating their
effects on cost price is very important. Traditional
costing methods, especially methods used in hospitals
cannot practically meet these expectations.
These methods determine cost price of offered
services based on fixed price regardless of conditions
in hospitals (1). Therefore, using proper and
effective methods of costing is a fundamental necessity.
For this purpose, “Activity Based Costing”
(ABC) is introduced for calculation of cost price.
ABC is one of the new costing methods with an
increasing application throughout the world.