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Healthcare Management vocabulary · Budgets and Finance

Overhead

Meaning in healthcare management, with examples

/ˈoʊvərhed/nounCommon term

In healthcare management, overhead means: Running costs that support the whole organisation rather than one service, such as administration, IT, finance, buildings and utilities.

In Turkish: genel giderler, genel yönetim giderleri

How it is used

American English usually says 'overhead' (uncountable); British English prefers 'overheads'. In costing, overhead is allocated to clinical departments so that the full cost of each service is known. Managers try to cut overheads without harming patient care.

Example sentences

  1. Administrative overhead takes up almost 15% of the hospital's budget.

  2. When we include overheads, the clinic actually loses money on each visit.

Common collocations

  • administrative overhead
  • cut overheads
  • overhead costs
  • allocate overhead
  • operating costsThe everyday costs of running a hospital or service, such as salaries, medicines, supplies, energy and maintenance, not including large investments.
  • cost centerA department or unit, such as radiology or a ward, whose costs are recorded separately so that managers can see and control what it spends.
  • budgetA plan that sets out how much money a hospital or department expects to receive and spend over a period, usually a financial year.
  • break evenTo earn exactly enough income to cover costs, so that there is neither a profit nor a loss.

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.