Costing Social Work Services in a Hospital Setting

Abstract

A basic task in social work organizations concerns the allocation of scarce resources to achieve desired goals. Although some attention has been given to this topic over the years, few costing models have been developed that can be applied particularly to social work in health and other host settings. This paper describes a cost analysis study in the social work department of a large academic health center with emphasis on how a methodology was developed. Generalizations relevant to other social work departments are included and the uses and limitations of such a cost study are discussed.