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Objectives: Although an increasing number of countries are adopting essential health service packages (EHSPs) and undertaking their cost assessment, standardization of the costing methods and their reporting are imperative to instill confidence in the use of findings of EHSPs as evidence for decision making and resource allocation. This review was conducted to synthesize the EHSP costing reports, focusing on the key costing methods and their reporting standards.Methods: A systematic review of English language literature (peer-reviewed as well as gray) was conducted. PubMed, Embase, Scopus, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, Google Scholar, and websites of key institutions were reviewed (2000-2020). Publication characteristics, costing methods, valuation sources, quality, transparency, and reporting standards were assessed and synthesized.Results: A total of 29 studies from 19 countries were included. Most studies were government reports (69%) and reported the use of "bottom-up" approach (76%), OneHealth tool (38%), had international funding (79%), and reported both normative and empirical cost estimates (41%). Six studies (21%) scored "excellent" in conduct and reporting. Stand-alone costing of EHSP had higher mean quality score (80). The projected increase in government budget to implement EHSP ranged from 17% to 117%. Limited availability of reliable data on resources, prices, and coverage of interventions were identified as major limitations for costing of EHSPs.Conclusions: Substantial differences in the costing methods and reporting standards of EHSPs made comparisons across countries difficult. Existing costing guidelines and checklists should be adapted for EHSPs with more specific methodological guidance to allow harmonization of methods and reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To inform allocation decisions in any healthcare system, robust cost data are indispensable. Nevertheless, recommendations on the most appropriate valuation approaches vary or are nonexistent, and no internationally accepted gold standard exists. This costing analysis exercise aims to assess the impact and implications of different calculation methods and sources based on the unit cost of general practitioner (GP) consultations in Austria.Methods: Six costing methods for unit cost calculation were explored, following 3 Austrian methodological approaches (AT-1, AT-2, AT-3) and 3 approaches applied in 3 other European countries (Germany, The Netherlands, United Kingdom). Drawing on Austrian data, mean unit costs per GP consultation were calculated in euros for 2015.Results: Mean unit costs ranged from €15.6 to €42.6 based on the German top-down costing approach (DE) and the Austrian Physicians' Chamber's price recommendations (AT-3), respectively. The mean unit cost was estimated at €18.9 based on Austrian economic evaluations (AT-1) and €17.9 based on health insurance payment tariffs (AT-2). The Dutch top-down (NL) and the UK bottom-up approaches (UK) yielded higher estimates (NL: €25.3, UK: €29.8). Overall variation reached 173%.Conclusions: Our study is the first to systematically investigate the impact of differing calculation methods on unit cost estimates. It shows large variations with potential impact on the conclusions in an economic evaluation. Although different methodological choices may be justified by the adopted study perspective, different costing approaches introduce variation in cross-study/cross-country cost estimates, leading to decreased confidence in data quality in economic evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Levelized cost metrics and costing methods for combined heat-and-power plants. • (Near) zero-marginal cost renewable energy sources are considered. • Concepts levelized cost of exergy & net present value based on exergy are proposed. • Novel concepts account for two products and temperature levels (usefulness of heat). • Application to a low-temperature geothermal combined heat-and-power plant. In this paper, several cost metrics for application to a combined heat-and-power plant fueled by a zero-marginal cost energy source are studied. The mature levelized cost concepts are extended with some novel metrics such as the levelized cost of exergy. The results are given for a geothermal combined heat-and-power plant, connected to two different types of district heating systems and for two scenarios for the heat and electricity prices (high and low). For a low price scenario, the conventional costing method based on two separate prices for electrical and thermal energy is the most appropriate. Also for a high price scenario, the conventional costing method is the most appropriate for heat demands at low temperature. However, for higher-temperature heat demands, the exergy costing method results in the highest revenues for the combined heat-and-power plant. The authors recommend the use of the novel levelized cost of exergy metric as different types of energy are priced with a single value. Depending on the amount of energy and the usefulness of the energy type, an appropriate cost can be allocated to each product of a multi-energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The review has the objective of presenting a synthesis of Professor Rodney Wernke's book, both from the University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), published in early 2019, by Saraiva Educação. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to identify the impact of adopting the program for Centers of Support for Innovation Management (Programa de Núcleos de Apoio à Gestão da Inovação - NAGI) on management control. This descriptive research carried out a survey, having as sample 12 Brazilian companies that joined the program. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and information entropy. Results showed that companies started using the researched systems more intensively, especially performance evaluation, strategic planning, contribution margin, simulations and budget. It was found that the companies started to use financial statements for decision-making, and strategic planning became a standard management control practice. The changes in management control practices after introducing innovation systems in the organizations were consistent with those observed by Sulaiman and Mitchell (2005), especially in planning, control and financial practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to provide a price model that motivates energy saving for a combined district heating and cooling system. A novel analysis using two thermoeconomic methods for apportioning the costs to heating and cooling provided simultaneously by an ammonia heat pump is demonstrated. In the first method, referred to as energy costing, a conventional thermoeconomic analysis is used. Here the ammonia heat pump is subject to a thermodynamic analysis with mass and energy balance equations. In the second method referred to as exergy costing, an exergy based economic analysis is used, where exergy balance equations are used in conjunction with mass and energy balance equations. In both costing methods the thermodynamic analysis is followed by an economic analysis which includes investment and operating costs. For both methods the unit costs of heating and cooling are found and compared. The analysis shows that the two methods yield significantly different results. Rather surprisingly, it is demonstrated that the exergy costing method results in about three times higher unit cost for heating than for cooling as opposed to equal unit costs when using the energy method. Further the exergy-based cost for heating changes considerably with the heating temperature while that of cooling is much less affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key task of company management is to assign the correct amount of costs to one product. Currently exists the many ways how can be allocate the company costs. Some of them are relatively ease and some of them are more sophisticated. The main goal of this paper is to discuss the usage of the "classical" costing methods and compare it with the concept ABC and its sorts. From this paper flows that "classical" methods cannot be marked as "bad" and the ABC can not be classified as the best method in every case. There is described the condition when classical methods are suitable and when the ABC methods are use more suitable, respectively the classical methods are unsuitable. Generally is possible to say that with growing number of products, customers, contracts or distribution channels and if we satisfy them through the same sorts of activities then the ABC is much better method of costing which provides the relevant and interesting data for company management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key task of company management is to assign the correct amount of costs to one product. Currently exists the many ways how can be allocate the company costs. Some of them are relatively ease and some of them are more sophisticated. The main goal of this paper is to discuss the usage of the "classical" costing methods and compare it with the concept ABC and its sorts. From this paper flows that "classical" methods cannot be marked as "bad" and the ABC can not be classified as the best method in every case. There is described the condition when classical methods are suitable and when the ABC methods are use more suitable, respectively the classical methods are unsuitable. Generally is possible to say that with growing number of products, customers, contracts or distribution channels and if we satisfy them through the same sorts of activities then the ABC is much better method of costing which provides the relevant and interesting data for company management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: HIV testing is an essential prerequisite for accessing treatment with antiretroviral therapy or prevention using pre‐exposure prophylaxis. Internet distribution of HIV self‐tests is a novel approach, and data on the programmatic cost of this approach are limited. We analyse the costs and cost‐effectiveness of a self‐testing programme. Methods: Men who have sex with men (MSM) reporting unknown or negative HIV status were enrolled from March to August 2015 into a 12‐month trial of HIV self‐testing in the United States. Participants were randomly assigned either to the self‐testing arm or the control arm. All participants received information on HIV testing services and locations in their community. Self‐testing participants received up to four self‐tests each quarter, which they could use themselves or distribute to their social network associates. Quarterly follow‐up surveys collected testing outcomes, including number of tests used and new HIV diagnoses. Using trial expenditure data, we estimated the cost of implementing a self‐testing programme. Primary outcomes of this analysis included total programme implementation costs, cost per self‐test completed, cost per person tested, cost per new HIV diagnosis among those self‐tested and cost per quality adjusted life year (QALY) saved. Results: A total of 2665 men were assigned either to the self‐testing arm (n = 1325) or the control arm (n = 1340). HIV testing was reported by 971 self‐testing participants who completed a total of 5368 tests. In the control arm, 619 participants completed 1463 HIV tests. The self‐testing participants additionally distributed 2864 self‐tests to 2152 social network associates. Testing during the trial identified 59 participants and social network associates with newly diagnosed HIV infection in the self‐testing arm; 11 control participants were newly diagnosed with HIV. The implementation cost of the HIV self‐testing programme was $449,510. The cost per self‐test completed, cost per person tested at least once, and incremental cost per new HIV diagnosis was $61, $145 and $9365 respectively. We estimated that self‐testing programme potentially averted 3.34 transmissions, saved 14.86 QALYs and nearly $1.6 million lifetime HIV treatment costs. Conclusions: The HIV self‐testing programme identified persons with newly diagnosed HIV infection at low cost, and the programme is cost saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]