[Resource utilization of gastric cancer patients aggregated item-by-item and comparison of the medical costs with the reimbursement level and length of hospital stay].

Objective: Using the new hospital cost accounting method per case based on cost per service, we compared the medical costs with the reimbursement level and length of hospital stay for gastric cancer patients.

Method: The subjects were 158 gastric cancer patients who were admitted for surgery in a public hospital in Tokyo between 1995 and 1997. The new cost accounting method that we developed according to the activity-based costing method was applied in the following four levels; major items of expenditure for the hospital; costs incurred in each department; costs per medical service units; and costs of all the services per case.