Accurate cost data is essential for understanding profitability, evaluating reimbursement, measuring service line performance, and making better financial decisions. CostFlex provides healthcare cost accounting software designed specifically for hospitals, health systems, clinics, physician groups, and other healthcare organizations that need detailed and dependable cost information.
Since 1989, CostFlex has developed healthcare specific cost accounting and financial decision support solutions that help organizations calculate the true cost of care while reducing the staff time required to maintain sophisticated costing models. CostFlex supports activity based costing as well as RCC, RVU, standard cost, and other costing methodologies, giving finance leaders the flexibility to use the approach that best fits their organization.
WHAT IS HEALTHCARE COST ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE?
Healthcare cost accounting software helps hospitals and health systems calculate, analyze, and understand the true cost of delivering patient care. By connecting financial, clinical, operational, reimbursement, and patient data, healthcare organizations can evaluate costs at the procedure, patient, department, and service line levels.
Reliable cost information allows financial leaders to compare the cost of care with reimbursement, identify profitable and unprofitable services, evaluate physician and service line performance, develop meaningful performance measures, and find opportunities for cost control and operational improvement.
COST ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE BUILT SPECIFICALLY FOR HEALTHCARE
CostFlex was built for healthcare rather than adapted from a general accounting platform. The system is designed around the financial and operational realities of hospitals and health systems, including complex patient activity, multiple reimbursement models, detailed procedure data, and the need to connect cost information with monthly financial results.
Organizations can calculate costs monthly and analyze results monthly, quarterly, or annually. This gives finance teams more current information for margin analysis, budgeting, payer review, service line management, and strategic decision making instead of relying primarily on annual costing cycles.
TESTIMONIALS
“Our region was up and running with accurate cost data in a few short months with CostFlex. The other regions in our organization made million dollar mistakes with a consultant staffed approaches to standard costing that were scrapped after two long/full years of work. I am pleased to endorse the CostFlex product methods.”
— Chief Financial Officer 600 Bed Organization, Midwest Region
“At my Critical Access facility, CostFlex provides the cost data accuracy I need with the least maintenance requirements of any system I have encountered.”
— Chief Financial Officer Critical Access Facility, Western Region
“In a few years since we started using CostFlex, we have averaged over $3 million a year in underpayment recoveries.”
— V.P. of Finance 4 Hospital System, Southeast Region
“Through the years, I have been a CFO with HCA and similar sized healthcare providers. I have never experienced the type of support I receive constantly from the CostFlex team. As a current CFO and CFO group member with my state’s hospital association, I endorse the tools and company constantly.”
— Chief Financial Officer Critical Access Facility, Western Region
“I appreciate the way the CostFlex team cares for my hospital. Their culture of customer service is first class. I have never worked with an outside vendor that has had such a proactive approach in finding ways to help me meet my hospital’s needs.”
— Chief Financial Officer 100 Bed Organization, Midwest Region
“CostFlex is quite simply the best software purchase decision I have made as CFO at the hospital.”
— Chief Financial Officer 600 Bed Organization, Midwest Region
“CostFlex is providing the information that supports our business plan.”
— V.P. of Finance 2300 Bed Hospital, Southeast Region
“As I always tell everybody, your firm is unique in the way you respond to customers. I am always happy to be a CostFlex client reference I want the world to know that CostFlex always delivers.”
— Chief Financial Officer Critical Access Facility, Western Region
“I created a variance report that identified over 5 million dollars in potential underpayments. Needless to say, this tool has been especially successful.”
— Director of Decision Support 500+ Bed Organization, Western Region
"I have been using CostFlex's Cost Accounting System for over three years and my organization for 22 years. It is an excellent costing system, and they continue to make meaningful enhancements to the system to meet the needs of the end user. Their customer service is awesome. The personal attention they give to the client is unmatched. I personally have not had a company take care of their clients like the people at CostFlex. Love working with their system and team. Keep up the great work CostFlex! Your clients appreciate all you do."
- Chad, Summa, Ohio
THE COSTFLEX HOSPITAL COST ACCOUNTING SOLUTION
CostFlex uses advanced activity based costing methods to connect expenses with the procedures and services that receive the benefit of those resources. Procedure level costs can then roll into patient level and service line reporting, allowing users to evaluate financial performance with a high degree of detail.
CostFlex also supports RCC, RVU, standard cost, and other methodologies. This flexibility allows organizations to use different costing approaches where appropriate while maintaining one integrated decision support environment.
The system can tie costing data to monthly financials automatically and is designed to reduce the ongoing labor required to maintain sophisticated cost accounting. Depending on the organization and configuration, clients can maintain their costing environment with staffing requirements as low as approximately one quarter FTE.
Supported clients receive regular software enhancements, including quarterly updates to the latest supported version at no additional charge.
WHY ACCURATE HOSPITAL COST ACCOUNTING MATTERS
- Understand the true cost of procedures, patients, departments, and service lines.
- Compare patient level costs with reimbursement to identify margin opportunities and underpayments.
- Evaluate service line and physician performance using detailed cost information.
- Support budgeting, cost reduction, and operational improvement with current financial data.
- Create more dependable performance measures for leadership reporting and strategic planning.
- Use consistent costing data across facilities and service lines for enterprise analysis.
OUR HEALTHCARE COST ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE SUITE
Activity-Based Cost Accounting
Restates expenses in terms of the specific patient charges and procedures that received benefit from each expense dollar after monthly financial closings. Learn more about Activity Based Cost Accounting.
Patient and Service Line Cost Accounting
Rolls procedure level cost accounting data into patient level results, making it possible to organize patient demographics into custom service lines for detailed financial and performance reporting. Learn more about Patient and Service Line Cost Accounting.
Service Line Analytics
Aggregates and reports large volumes of service line data efficiently and supports marginal cost analysis for deeper evaluation of service line performance. Learn more about Service Line Analytics.
SQL Enterprise DSS Warehouse and Reporting
Gathers, analyzes, stores, and reports decision support data so healthcare organizations can compare facilities, service lines, and financial performance within one reporting environment. Learn more about SQL Enterprise DSS Warehouse and Reporting.
TURNKEY IMPLEMENTATION AND STAFF TRAINING
CostFlex provides an inclusive implementation process led by experienced decision support professionals. Each new client is assigned a dedicated project manager who organizes the installation, coordinates data and system requirements, keeps the project on schedule, and supports staff training.
Turnkey software installation and staff training are routinely completed in eight weeks or less, allowing organizations to begin using accurate cost information without a prolonged implementation cycle.
Learn more about CostFlex Turnkey Installation.
INTEGRATION, HOSTING, AND OPERATIONAL FLEXIBILITY
CostFlex is designed to interface with healthcare financial, clinical, and operational systems so the data needed for costing and decision support can move into one connected environment. This includes integration with EHR and ERP environments and other vendor systems used throughout the healthcare organization.
- Onsite hosting or cloud hosting options.
- Single sign on security.
- Automated file maintenance and data uploads.
- Temporary staffing when additional decision support resources are needed.
- Custom costing configurations tailored to the organization.
SUPPORT FROM PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE SOFTWARE
CostFlex provides ongoing support from professionals with direct knowledge of its healthcare cost accounting and decision support systems. Support personnel include development programmers who understand how the software is built and how it is used in healthcare finance environments.
Many support issues can be handled when the request is received. For issues that require additional work, CostFlex guarantees a response within 48 hours. The goal is to provide clients with direct access to knowledgeable people rather than a general third party call center.
Learn more about CostFlex Client Support.
COST BASED HOSPITAL BENCHMARKING
CostFlex can also use detailed activity based costing data to support hospital benchmarking. Instead of relying only on broad cost to charge ratios, CostFlex benchmarking allows participating organizations to compare performance using more detailed cost information while protecting the identity and financial data of participating organizations.
Learn more about Cost Based Hospital Benchmarking.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HEALTHCARE COST ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
What is healthcare cost accounting software?
Healthcare cost accounting software helps hospitals and health systems calculate and analyze the true costs associated with delivering care. Cost information can be evaluated at the procedure, patient, department, and service line levels to support financial planning, margin analysis, and operational decision making.
Why is cost accounting important for hospitals?
Accurate cost accounting helps hospitals understand the true cost of care, evaluate profitability, identify opportunities for cost reduction, analyze reimbursement, compare service line performance, and make more informed financial decisions.
Which cost accounting methodologies does CostFlex support?
CostFlex supports activity based costing as well as RCC, RVU, standard cost, and other costing methodologies. This gives healthcare organizations flexibility to select the approaches that best fit their financial and operational requirements.
Can CostFlex calculate patient level costs?
Yes. CostFlex can roll procedure level cost information into individual patient records, providing detailed patient level costing that can then be grouped into service lines and other reporting categories.
How does CostFlex integrate with EHR and ERP systems?
CostFlex is designed to interface with healthcare financial, clinical, and operational data sources, including EHR and ERP environments, so the information required for costing and financial decision support can flow into a connected reporting environment.
How frequently can hospital costs be calculated?
CostFlex can calculate costs monthly, allowing healthcare organizations to analyze cost information monthly, quarterly, or annually rather than relying exclusively on annual costing cycles.
What reporting capabilities are available?
CostFlex supports reporting across patient costs, procedures, departments, service lines, financial performance, enterprise decision support data, and related cost analysis. Additional CostFlex products extend those capabilities into analytics, benchmarking, and reporting.
Does CostFlex provide hospital benchmarking?
Yes. CostFlex Cost Based Hospital Benchmarking uses detailed activity based cost information to help participating organizations compare performance using cost data rather than relying solely on generalized cost to charge ratios.
SCHEDULE A DEMO
Ready to see firsthand how our hospital cost accounting software can help your healthcare organization? Please complete this form to schedule a product demonstration. All clients who purchase CostFlex software receive an unconditional satisfaction guarantee in writing, and you’ll be entitled to a warranty for three full months after a completed turnkey installation.
If you have questions about CostFlex Systems, Inc., or any of our healthcare decision support products, feel free to contact us online or by phone during regular office hours.