title: The problems raised by the use of cost as an efficiency indicator in a biochemical laboratory.
abstract: In the field of health, the increasing gap between technical possibilities and financial resources has led us to search for new instruments of control in the evolution of the hospital system. These new criteria, which have an economic basis, raise many problems and are far from being solved. In this paper, we will study the dual quality of cost indicator, i.e. its quality as a scientific instrument of measure and its quality as an instrument capable of influencing the hospital actors' behaviour. The main variants of cost concept are then correlated with management problems in a study carried out inside a biochemical laboratory.
mesh_terms: D002017:Budgets / Q000639:trends; D003363:Cost Control / Q000639:trends; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000191:economics*; D004469:Economics, Hospital / Q000639:trends*; D005602:France; D006801:Humans