Okuzeka
Healthcare Management vocabulary · Budgets and Finance

Cost center

Meaning in healthcare management, with examples

nounCommon term

In healthcare management, cost center means: A department or unit, such as radiology or a ward, whose costs are recorded separately so that managers can see and control what it spends.

In Turkish: maliyet merkezi, masraf merkezi

How it is used

Spelled 'cost centre' in British English. Every expense is charged to a cost center, and each one usually has a manager responsible for its budget. Unlike a profit center, a cost center is judged on what it spends, not on what it earns.

Example sentences

  1. Please charge the new monitors to the intensive care cost center.

  2. The laundry is a cost center that we are thinking of outsourcing.

Common collocations

  • cost center manager
  • charge to a cost center
  • cost center report
  • profit center
  • budgetA plan that sets out how much money a hospital or department expects to receive and spend over a period, usually a financial year.
  • overheadRunning costs that support the whole organisation rather than one service, such as administration, IT, finance, buildings and utilities.
  • operating costsThe everyday costs of running a hospital or service, such as salaries, medicines, supplies, energy and maintenance, not including large investments.
  • varianceThe difference between the amount planned in a budget and the amount actually spent or earned in a period.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Budgets and Finance

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.