'I don't understand this cost report at all', exclaimed John Carter, the newly appointed administrator of AngelCare General Hospital. 'Our administrative costs in the new pediatrics clinic are difficult to understand. One month the report shows $16600, and the next month it's $32200. What's going on?' Carter's question was posed to Alice Baines, the hospital's accountant. The main problem is that the clinic has experienced some widely varying patient loads in its first year of operation', Baines replied. 'There seems to be some confusion in the public's mind about what services we offer in the clinic. When do they come to the clinic? When do they go to the outpatients' department? That sort of thing. As the patient load has varied, we've frequently changed our clinic administrative staffing. Also, we have found that the number of emergency procedures varies each month, and emergency procedures cause additional staff costs.' Carter continued to puzzle over the report. Could you put some data together, Alice, so we can see how this cost behaves over a range of patient loads. You'll have it this afternoon, Baines responded. She set to work right away and gathered the following data: Month January February March April Number of emergency procedures Patient load Administrative cost 20 2800 $27,800 22 1000 14,000 10 800 12,000 20 2000 20,000 Carter continued to puzzle over the report. Could you put some data together, Alice, so we can see how this cost behaves over a range of patient loads. You'll have it this afternoon', Baines responded. She set to work right away and gathered the following data: Month January February March April May June July August September October November December Number of emergency procedures Patient load Administrative cost 20 2800 $27,800 22 1000 14,000 10 800 12,000 20 2000 20,000 24 2600 23,800 28 1800 18,400 16 2200 20,400 14 600 8,200 24 1400 18,800 24 2400 22,200 16 1200 16,600 32 3000 32,200 Baines does not believe that the first year's widely fluctuating patient load will be experienced again in the future. She has estimated that the clinic's relevant range of monthly activity in the future will be 600 to 1 200 patients. 1. Use the high-low method to estimate the behavior of the clinic's administrative costs, based on patient load within the relevant range. Use an equation to express the results of this estimation method. (7m) 2. What is your prediction of the clinic's administrative cost during a month when 800 patients visit the hospital? (2m) 3. Would you use the cost function from requirement 3 to predict the clinic's administrative cost for 300 patient visits? Explain your answer. (2m) 4. Identify the number of emergency procedures, patient load and administrative costs for each month within the relevant range. (6m) 5. Does the inclusion of the additional cost driver of emergency procedures 2. What is your prediction of the clinic's administrative cost during a month when 800 patients visit the hospital? (2m) 3. Would you use the cost function from requirement 3 to predict the clinic's administrative cost for 300 patient visits? Explain your answer. (2m) 4. Identify the number of emergency procedures, patient load and administrative costs for each month within the relevant range. (6m) 5. Does the inclusion of the additional cost driver of emergency procedures improve the model? Explain your answer. (8m)
