Best Practice Benchmarking in Order to Analyze Operating Costs in the Health Care Sector

The purpose of this paper is the introduction of a best practice tool in order to analyse operating costs in the health care sector. Researcher present the findings by using a new innovative benchmarking tool to analyze operating costs, identify cost drivers and illuminate the savings potential.In order to determine the volume and to prioritize the cost drivers, CAREB (Computer Aided Real Estate Benchmarking) software was used, which was developed by the Institute of Real Estate Benchmarking at the University of Applied Sciences KufsteinTirol, Austria. Statistic analyses were conducted to investigate savings potential, determine the best case of the sample and submit recommendations to the decision makers. Compared to conventional benchmarking methods, this model allows a holistic view on the key factors of cost drivers and reveals the savings potential for each dimension. The key figure which reveals the largest potential gives an indication of whether a residential home has general problems with efficiency (high costs per bed), with occupancy (costs per resident) or with the space efficiency (costs per average space consumption). Furthermore the study reveals the immense savings potential in the costs of various services. The results should help to establish cost benchmarking increasingly and develop it as a strategic planning tool in order to support management in the health care sector in the decision