In the name of costing accuracy, nurses are asked to track inventory u
se on per treatment basis when more significant costs, such as general
overhead and nursing salaries, are usually allocated to patients or t
reatments on an average cost basis, Accurate treatment costing and fin
ancial viability require analysis of all resources actually consumed i
n treatment delivery, including nursing services and inventory, More p
recise costing information enables more profitable decisions as is dem
onstrated by comparing the ratio-of-cost-to-treatment method (aggregat
e costing) with alternative activity-based costing methods (ABC), Nurs
es must participate in this costing process to assure that capitation
bids are based upon accurate costs rather than simple averages.