Martina Dragija

Performance Measurement as the Basis for Hospitals Strategic Management

Hospitals are institutions of very high degree of complexity and they absorb significant budgetary resources. Effective management is very important for hospitals and for society as a whole. In conditions of limited financial resources, management of hospitals is extremely complex and demanding, and requires the use of high quality and timely management information. Authors analyze what information managers of public hospitals need for successful, balanced management. The aim is to explore issues of performance measurement as a basis for strategic business management of Croatian hospitals. Hospitals are under pressure to provide high quality services, while in the same time, they need to reduce costs, improve performance and increase customer satisfaction. Information on costs, prices and service fees, program goals, methods of measuring programs’ performance, financial and non-financial performance indicators are therefore extremely important for strategic business management of hospitals. This paper analyzes the ways of measuring hospital’s performance, the selection and definition of adequate performance indicators, and models of performance reports as a basis for business decisions making and the presentation of performance. Based on the analysis we propose performance report for one hospital in Croatia, a methodology of drafting the report as well as its use in decision-making process.

ABC Method in Healthcare Institutions Based on Business Processes

Hospital, as an object implementing the ABC method has a more complex structure of output (services), users, activities and financial flow from ordinary production company. Making appropriate cost structures, the structure of business processes and cost drivers requires detailed knowledge and study of the processes within the hospital system for the application of ABC methods at the organizational level. Detailed knowledge of the hospital system will help the management of hospitals in use of limited resources and in savings with the constant rising costs of health care services. The key objective of this paper is to show possible model regarding ABC implementation in healthcare institution in Republic of Croatia based on business processes. The model has identified internal business processes and associated costs incurred attributable to provided services in a public hospital. The paper is presenting field research, snap shots of business processes and employee interviews and analysis of accounting data about the costs attributable to business processes.

Development of Cost Accounting in Higher Education Institutions in the Republic of Croatia

This paper aims to present the level of development of cost accounting in the Higher Education Institutions (further HEI’s) through conducted empirical researches. The main objective of this paper is to highlight that for quality decisions making at HEI’s it is necessary to have relevant information about costs. Using different methods for managing costs, information about costs are significantly different. Based on that, the process of decision making and decision made on costs could vary. To examine the level of cost accounting used in HEI’s, the research based on the questionnaire was conducted in the year 2006 and 2014. The questionnaire was sent to all HEI’s in Republic of Croatia, more precisely to the Deans of HEI’s and to the Head of Accounting of HEI’s. The authors have set the main hypothesis that cost accounting tools are still not enough used in Croatian HEI’s. The results of conducted research have shown that cost accounting in Croatian HEI’s is still undeveloped and still not sufficiently used in the process of decision making and funding of HEI’s. Moreover, authors have highlighted that some cost accounting instruments, e.g., cost allocation, are used less in 2014 than in 2006. The authors have also pointed out several potential obstacles for implementation of cost accounting in the accounting systems of HEI’s. Also, in the paper, the authors have provided possible recommendations for implementation and better usage of cost accounting in Croatian HEI’s.