The differential costs of employing support personnel: An approach to improving efficiency and fiscal performance

Recognizing the need to control costs, including the wages and salaries of support personnel, this paper develops a generic model that evaluates the differential costs assigned to employees that perform support functions. The differential cost construction measures the variation in the wages and salaries of support personnel when related expenses are treated as a variable rather than a fixed cost. The model partitions the differential cost into portions that are attributable to the relative intensity of using support personnel, rates of compensation, volume of service and the efficiency of Medical personnel who provide direct patient care. Based on an Excel spreadsheet, the results indicate that, other factors remaining constant, a modest increase in the intensity of employing support personnel and the implementation of policies that link the use of these employees to the volume of direct patient care result in substantial cost savings, lower cash disbursements and an improvement in profitability.